Union minister says Bangalore is covered by an eclipse

21.03.10 Bangalore : SM Krishna Union minister for external affairs and former chief minister of Karnataka  said on Saturday, that there’s an eclipse over Bangalore, when it comes to local administration. “It is high time Bangaloreans remove the eclipse and vote for better local administration in civic polls,” he said. Krishna was interacting with media persons at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office during his visit to the city.

He said that it was during the 1999-2004 Congress regime that Bangalore became a hub for foreign and domestic investors. It was because of the good infrastructure provided by the government. “In two to three years we had converted Bangalore into an IT hub. Unfortunately, in the last few years, the city has become dull. It is not just my view. In many foreign countries, there are discussions about Bangalore’s poor infrastructure,” he added.

Congress government had done plenty for the city. “This is why people would call me chief minister of Bangalore and not Karnataka. We had started construction of 27 flyovers, distributed more than 50,000 sites andintroduced self assessment of tax. Now, we have something called magic boxes which are gifts of the present government. They are nothing but black spots that are victims of poor design,” he said. The minister blamed the present government for not utilising JNNURM funds well. “If the state is committed to development, then sky is the limit,” he said.