Bangalore: Infrastructure development of the city is on the fast track with two major projects flagged off by the Prime Minister. But are rural projects getting ignored in the process.
The Bangalore-Mysore expressway, part of which was inaugurated recently, sparked off a fiery debate on the rural-urban divide.
Deve Gowda and company had shunned every infrastructure project that Bangalore has seen so far, for its urban bias.
But is it actually about ensuring equal growth or is it about vote-bank politics?
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bangalore on Saturday to launch two infrastructure projects, he had a point to make.
"Along with Bangalore's development, we must also work for Karnataka's development. I do not see any contradiction between the two. Some try to divide our people by pitting one against another in the development debate. This is wrong," says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Many Bangaloreans see it as a veiled attack on former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, whose son, chief minister Kumarawamy, presided over the event.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram too echoed the prime minister's sentiments and called for a change in mindset.
"We all grow up with a set of beliefs. Wisdom lies in changing that from time to time. But if a set of beliefs become set beliefs, and if we refuse to change our position, what will suffer is public interest," says Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Even after laying the foundation stone for a highway to electronic city, the PM's argument to the humble farmer's son was compelling.
"All of this must benefit both town and country - both city and village. And it can. And roads and highways are the means to achieving it," said Prime Minister.
One certainly hopes that the highway of progress shed its urban bias.
With inputs from Roshni Menon and Deepa Balakrishnan.
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