The Congress government in Karnataka and the BJP are locked in a public dispute over how the cost of Bengaluru's Metro expansion should be shared between the state and the Union government. The row has surfaced just ahead of the inauguration of the Pink Line by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a new addition to the city's Metro network.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has stated that the state bears about 84 per cent of the project's cost. BJP leader Tejasvi Surya has countered that the Centre's share must also be taken into account, and has disputed the figures put forward by the Congress leadership. The notes available for this report do not establish what the final split of costs between the state and the Centre actually is, so the competing claims remain unverified against an agreed accounting.
The disagreement over the financial arrangement has been compounded by a separate row over the inauguration event itself. Transport Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has said that his speech was dropped from the programme schedule. He has alleged that the decision by the organisers was politically motivated. The reason for the removal of his speech has not been confirmed in the available material, and no explanation from the organisers has been recorded in the notes.
The Pink Line is expected to ease commuter connectivity in Bengaluru, a city where road congestion has long been a concern for residents and commuters. The dispute, however, has shifted public attention toward the rivalry between the Congress and the BJP over the project, rather than the commuter benefits the line is intended to deliver.
The episode adds to a wider pattern of friction between the Karnataka government and the Centre over funding and the handling of state-linked projects. Whether the controversy over costs and the inauguration programme will be resolved through a formal reconciliation of accounts, or will continue as a political exchange, is not clear from the material at hand.
Source: chennaionline.com
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