RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka has hit out at Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar after he slammed Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for criticising Bengaluru’s “crumbling infrastructure”.
In a post on X on Sunday, Goenka said it was “unfortunate how thin-skinned our politicians are”.
“When Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw spoke up about Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure, instead of fixing it, they turned it into politics. Now they’ll pressurize her to post “positive tweets.” So typical – attack the critic, not the problem,” he said.
It’s unfortunate how thin-skinned our politicians are. When @kiranshaw spoke up about Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure, instead of fixing it, they turned it into politics. Now they’ll pressurize her to post “positive tweets.” So typical- attack the critic, not the problem. https://t.co/sSvgZ3DhNd
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) October 19, 2025
He was reacting to Mazumdar-Shaw’s response to Shivakumar.
The senior Congress leader, who is the minister in charge of Bengaluru’s development, on Saturday said that Mazumdar-Shaw and former Infosys CFO TV Mohandas Pai, who has also spoken about the city’s infrastructure issues, had some “personal agenda”.
He said they did not raise any issues relating to Bengaluru infrastructure during the previous governments.
“They have some personal agenda with them. I tell them openly, ‘Why didn’t they open their mouths during the BJP regime?’ They have a personal agenda. We will tackle it,” he told reporters on Mazumdar-Shaw’s criticism.
Mazumdar-Shaw, however, rejected Shivakumar’s charge.
“Not true. Both TV Mohandas Pai and I have criticised deteriorating infrastructure in our city during previous BJP & JDS Governments. Our agenda is clear. Clean up and restore roads,” she wrote on X.
Not true. Both @TVMohandasPai and I have criticised deteriorating infrastructure in our city to previous BJP & JDS Governments. Our agenda is clear clean up and restore roads. https://t.co/JYnQ1u7K7r
— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) October 19, 2025
Shivakumar then doubled down on his remarks and said that he is open to criticism, but some people are “doing it too much”.
“The population in Bengaluru city is 1.40 crore. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was saying that 3,000 vehicles are getting registered per day. 1.23 crore vehicles are registered in Bengaluru. 70 lakh people come to Bengaluru for jobs, education and other things, some go back. Population is increasing,” Shivakumar told a gathering.
“Those who have started businesses here have grown. After growing big, they have forgotten from what stage they have grown into what stage now. If you forget the root, you will not get the fruit. Some have forgotten and are criticising by tweeting,” he said, in an apparent attack on Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai.
VIDEO | Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) hits out at industrialists who have been tweeting about Bengaluru’s infrastructure.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, “Bengaluru city has a population of 1.4 crore. Around 20 lakh people are from outside. The… pic.twitter.com/BsJ4nkqDzl
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 19, 2025
He said that an opportunity has been provided to citizens to bring to the notice of the authorities the Bengaluru pothole issues by sending pictures to a phone number on WhatsApp under the “fix my pothole” campaign.
“I welcome all the criticism, no problem. Because criticism increases the value of democracy. But some are doing it too much, and these things won’t bother me. People have given us an opportunity, and we want to serve them,” he said.