Bengaluru, 30 Oct

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hit back at BJP leader and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya over his opposition to the Tunnel Road project, calling him waste material.

"That boy is a waste of material. He is a waste material. When he is treated with respect and spoken to, he keeps on ranting as much as he can," Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday. "Who is this Tejaswi Surya to say no to tunnel roads? He should decide in the Lok Sabha after becoming a Union Minister that there should be no tunnel roads in this country and in the world," he said.

"We are the ones who brought the metro to this State. What did they do when they were in power? What did they bring from the Centre? How many pillars did they put up in Bengaluru? How much money did they bring for the project? The Central government is providing 11-12 per cent of the money for the metro project. We are providing everything ourselves, including land compensation," he said.

Surya had met Shivakumar on Tuesday and urged him to scrap the tunnel road project and instead strengthen mass transportation systems.

BENGALURU-MUMBAI SUPERFAST TRAIN

Surya said he called on Railway Board Chairperson Satish Kumar on Thursday in New Delhi and discussed both the Bengaluru suburban railway project and the proposed Bengaluru-Mumbai superfast train, hinting that it could soon become a reality.