BJP MP Tejasvi Surya pushed for “stronger urban governance” during an event on Sunday — insisting that Bengaluru could not follow an “American model” for vehicular policies. The Bengaluru lawmaker joined fellow BJP leader K Annamalai and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for a roundtable event in California, touching upon a slew of administrative and policy issues.
“At the roundtable at Stanford yesterday, I spoke about the urgent need for stronger urban governance as India’s cities emerge as global centres of growth. Cities like Bengaluru cannot follow the American model of one car per person. Our focus must be on mass public transit – moving people, not cars. Empowered cities are the need of the hour,” Surya wrote on X.
The Bangalore South MP also flagged some “fundamental” flaws in the current administrative structures — citing a recent visit to Osaka in Japan to underscore his point. Surya noted that there had been a call for both regions to become ‘sister cities’. But this, in turn, prompted the Mayor of Osaka to ask who the relevant counterpart in India would be for such an agreement – leading to a fresh conundrum.
“This may come as a surprise to many, but Bengaluru has not had a functional corporation in the last seven years. We don’t have a Mayor in Bengaluru. And this is the case with many, many urban municipalities and cities in the country….Bengaluru. A city of 1.5 crore people, has been administered by just two bureaucrats for the past seven years,” he added.
Surya also spoke about the recent West Bengal Assembly elections during the Stanford India Conference 2026 — opining that the outcome marked a turning point in the ideological landscape of the state. The delimitation exercise, plans to expand Lok Sabha strength and the ongoing Census were also under discussion — with the three leaders differing on many points.
What did Tharoor say?
Shashi Tharoor also raised major questions about the special intensive revision of voter rolls on Sunday — even as he admitted that the party may have ‘benefited’ from some of the changes. The Thiruvananthapuram MP highlighted the omission of nearly 91 lakh names before the West Bengal elections and linked it to the BJP victory. Tharoor also noted that nearly 30 lakh people were unable to vote during the recent elections since their cases remain under legal scrutiny.
“There are legitimate questions to answer. Look at the Bengal case. 91 lakh names were struck off the rolls. Of those, 34 lakh living human beings have appealed, saying that they are around and they are legitimately entitled to vote… To this day, some 31-32 lakh people might be found to have been legitimate voters in the remaining years, while the adjudication carries on, but they have missed their chance to vote. The BJP won Bengal by a margin of 30 lakh votes. Now you tell me, is that entirely fair and democratic?” he asked.