Bicon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has long called for the the government to act on the Bengaluru’s failing infrastructure. In a significant U-turn from her usual criticism, the Indian entrepreneur behind the Asia’s leading bio-pharmaceutical enterprise heaped great words of praise on Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

Crediting his “leadership” as being responsible for “rescuing” the Indian Silicon Valley from “collapsing under the weight of garbage debris n pot holes,” Mazumdar-Shaw took note of the visible changes on the city’s roads. In a Friday morning post on X, she particularly spoke highly about “cleaner foot paths” and “asphalted roads” across Bengaluru.

In addition to showering Shivakumar with complements for his efforts to focussed on the much-needed development, the Biocon boss also applauded Maheshwar Rao M, the Chief Commissioner, Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

“Let’s build a worldclass city through collective civic responsibility,” she concluded her tweet by tagging the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC).

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Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai remain united on the Bengaluru infrastructure debate

Hours before the Indian billionaire’s tweet emerged on the platform, former CFO and board member at Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai also shared a big “thank you” note for the state’s deputy chief minister.

“Thank you DCM @DKShivakumar for your leadership and drive in getting this done,” Pai shared on Thursday afternoon. “Look forward to make Bengaluru a truly global city with great mobility and ease of life for all citizens.”

He went on to tag other crucial figures, who remain united in their focus to push the flourishing Bengaluru agenda. Alongside Mazumdar-Shaw, these people are Bengaluru-based nonresident scholar at Carnegie India, RK Misra, Businessman and political activist Tanveer Ahmed,  CEO of the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), and Revathy Ashok, Raghavendra HS, another B.PAC official, among other key figures.

DK Shivakumar vs entrepreneurs on Bengaluru

Pai’s message, in turn, dropped on X in response to Shivakumar announced that white topping work had been completed on 39 key roads in an effort to improve the quality of travel across Bengaluru. Sharing the good news, he also vowed that work connected to over 100 more roads, which sought to make commute safer, was still ongoing.

The industry leaders’ recent positive reversal on the Karnataka government official comes after she and TV Mohandas Pai met up with the the deputy chief minister.

The virtual applause in itself was one for the books, especially since it followed merely weeks after Shivakumar acknowledged the constructive criticism coming from them and other entrepreneurs. However, the acceptance did not come without the deputy chief minister calling out the public personalities for their comments potentially making international news.

Just over a few weeks ago, the Biocon billionaire opened up about having had a “constructive meeting” the Karnataka politician, as they agreed on an action plan to “fix key infra bottleneck in roads, ORR, PRR drainage traffic n garbage,” amid the long stretched-out pothole row.

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Bengaluru netizens stay divided on potholes row

While some joined in the conversation to praise the officials, not everyone was on board the praise. Although already established by the deputy CM that work to perfect Bengaluru roads is still ongoing, netizens from Bengaluru couldn’t hold back their furious rants. Several X users doubled down on claims of failing infrastructure in the comments, as they shared camera clicks backing their arguments.

“Cleaner footpath? This is HSR, the cradle of all startups in the country, not some inside road, but 17th cross where most unicorns boast their presence,” one wrote in the comments section. “One thing i must say, there is some resemblance of footpath i can surely see here which i can’t in most of the city.”

Another user posted eyebrow-raising visuals of a Bengaluru location where repairs had seemingly already concluded, but the outcome didn’t reflect any significant change. “So called clear roads at aecs layout, singasandra. They just patched the road here and there. We can see in the video where patches are wornout with in 2 days. What kind of patch work it is where they patched only little and gravel is visible everywhere. Simply wasting resources,” they wrote on X.

Yet another netizen chimed in, “I don’t see any visible change in East Bangalore/ Mahadevpura, Varthur areas. Same potholes, same dust, same traffic and only increasing.”