Abhishek Kumar @foolopal

Bengaluru finally has a minister who cares. Let me explain, this is good news. :) For the last nine years, Bengaluru's city development portfolio was either sitting with Chief Ministers or with ministers from other districts. DK Shivakumar managed it for three years while being based out of Ramanagara. Before him, Parameshwara held it from Tumakuru. Siddaramaiah and Yediyurappa both kept it for themselves during their respective terms. The last time a local legislator actually held this job was 2015, when KJ George had it briefly. So the person in charge of fixing your roads, your drains, your footpaths, and your garbage had no personal stake in any of it. They didn't drive through the same potholes you did. They didn't watch the same streets flood every monsoon. They governed Bengaluru from a distance. That changed on June 3 when DK Shivakumar became Chief Minister and handed the Greater Bengaluru Development portfolio to Krishna Byre Gowda. Now who is this man and why should you care? KBG, as people call him, represents Byatarayanapura, which is a constituency inside Bengaluru. He has won from here multiple times. Before that he won twice from Vemgal in Kolar. He has been an MLA for over two decades. His educational background is unusual for Indian politics. He studied business management at Christ University in Bengaluru, then went to American University in Washington DC for a master's in International Affairs. He came back, worked on his family farm in Kolar for two years, then entered politics after his father passed away in 2003. So he has both the formal education and the ground-level reality of Indian agriculture and governance. More importantly, look at what he did when he was Revenue Minister in the Siddaramaiah government from 2023 to 2026. He ran the Bhoo Guarantee scheme, which focused on digitising Karnataka's land records and actually giving title deeds to people who had been living on land for generations without official documents. His department distributed title deeds to 2.2 lakh families in roughly 1000 days. These were families who for the first time had legal ownership papers for homes they had been living in for decades. The department also digitised 69 crore pages of old land documents and brought pending cases before tahsildar courts down from 10,774 to 488. Average days to resolve a case went from 212 to 67. Now, he reportedly did not want the Bengaluru portfolio initially. He was keen to stay in Revenue and finish the land digitisation work. He reportedly delayed taking formal charge for several days after being sworn in because he was unhappy that the Bangalore Development Authority and BMRDA, which handle major land and infrastructure projects worth tens of thousands of crores, were kept with Chief Minister Shivakumar and not transferred to him. His argument is simple. You can't hold me accountable for Bengaluru if you don't give me control over the agencies building Bengaluru. He eventually took charge after raising this publicly and having conversations with the party leadership. And from the day he walked in, the pace has been different. His first review meeting covered solid waste management and monsoon preparedness. He personally reprimanded civic engineers over the state of Rajakaluves, which are the stormwater drains that flood every year without fail. He issued an ultimatum that if drains overflow onto roads during the upcoming monsoon, the responsible engineers will face disciplinary action. On potholes, he has directed that the box-cutting method be used for all repairs, where the road is properly cut, filled with jelly aggregate, and surfaced with tar, instead of the usual practice of just pouring tar over a hole and hoping it sticks. He has allocated 77 crore for pothole work with specific priority to junctions and signals, and 70 crore for footpath repair and restoration. And then yesterday, he announced the footpath encroachment campaign, launching July 1 across 2,000 km of priority roads. Shop owners and commercial establishments have been given until July 1 to voluntarily remove everything they have placed on footpaths. Signboards, goods, structures, vehicles. After that, demolition drives begin and penalties kick in. Footpaths are not government property. They are not the shopkeeper's property. They belong to the 1.5 crore people of Bengaluru. This is a politically unpopular move. He is going after the small trader community, which votes and organizes. But he is doing it anyway. Yes, Bengaluru's problems are too large and too interconnected for one minister to fix them. Yes, the BDA and BMRDA sit outside his control. The 27,000 crore Business Corridor and the 18,000 crore Bidadi township are with the Chief Minister. The big infrastructure money is not his to direct. But the underlying problem with Bengaluru's governance for the last decade was that the people making decisions had no electoral cost when their decisions failed. That has changed. Whether it is enough remains to be seen. But the incentive structure is finally pointing in the right direction. But for the first time in nine years, the person in charge of Bengaluru actually lives here. :) I'm watching this closely.

Imran Khan @KeypadGuerilla

2 days ago

Minister @krishnabgowda chaired a meeting with officials to discuss clearing encroachments on footpaths across the Greater #Bengaluru Authority limits and undertaking repair works to make them safe and accessible for public use. #Karnataka

27 16 142 271K 9

IMPORTANT: State BJP president Hemant Khandelwal has mounted a strong defence of CM Mohan Yadav’s land deals, claiming they pre-date his tenure as Chief Minister. The facts, however, suggest that companies linked to the CM’s family continued acquiring land even after 2023. But the most bizarre defence is this: that Yadav is being targeted because he belongs to an OBC community. Since when does caste determine guilt or innocence? Investigations must follow the evidence, not social identity (meanwhile, no sign of any investigation being ordered since MP is a ‘double engine’ state).🙏😡

“Who puts speed breakers at traffic signals?Such unscientific measures are creating traffic bottlenecks artificially.First,remove speed breakers at junctions & fix potholes. Ensure there is no parking, street vending,or bus stops within a 75-metre radius of traffic signals" (1/2)

Imran Khan @KeypadGuerilla

2 days ago

Minister @krishnabgowda chaired a meeting with officials to discuss clearing encroachments on footpaths across the Greater #Bengaluru Authority limits and undertaking repair works to make them safe and accessible for public use. #Karnataka

27 16 142 271K 9

Hats off to these 2 Indian ladies for showing this idiot Kangladeshi his place for having abused India in Italy. Glad they didn’t let him go and made him apologize. 👏🏻👏🏻 Jai Hind 🫡🇮🇳

@moronhumor share.google/nNH8WyQ0eK4Rcs… Found the restaurant. You can also see the guy. You know what to do. Let us bring it to 1 star from a measly 2.2 right now

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Ayodhya raised questions. Ujjain raises even more. One sacred city after another, allegations emerge of those close to power benefiting from land transactions linked to major public and religious development projects. The BJP cannot wrap itself in the flag and faith while looking away from charges of cronyism and profiteering. Ram belongs to the people, Mahakal belongs to the people, not to politically connected land speculators. The country deserves a credible, independent probe.

Super story by @mazoomdaar at @IndianExpress that only confirms another of the worst kept secrets of Indian politics. Across India, those in power are making windfall profits in private real estate deals by simply getting a change effected in land use. Only difference: no punitive action if it’s a ‘DOUBLE ENGINE’ state! 🙏

In the corridors of real estate - there was common chatter about the MP CM’s hunger for property. Kudos to Indian Express for going beyond the chatter and exposing the nefarious practice.

🚨 Gary Lineker reveals why Ronaldo doesn’t talk to him anymore “We used to get on all right… then I said Messi is the better player. Anyone who understands the game sees that. Ronaldo fans get annoyed… Ronaldo gets annoyed. He doesn’t speak to me anymore.”

American football legend Tom Brady talking about Virat Kohli: “Virat Kohli is the cricketer from India, who is the third most followed athlete in the world after Ronaldo and Messi”.

Turns out, if you ask four Bengalurigas “how do we fix BLR?” the whole town shows up in the comments section. The Bengaluru Roundtable has gone absolutely wild. This city is special because people refuse to stop caring. Onwards. 🚀 youtu.be/eT3B9E2vo40?si…

Why did Modi govt get NITI AAYOG report,that said that 2600 liters of water are wasted to manufacture 1 liter of Ethanol, deleted?

KBG is known for his administration. Many may not even know about his efforts in transforming one of the most underdeveloped areas into one of the most happening constituency. city like Bangalore also needs the cooperation of its citizens to support this hardworking administrator

“Why are even footpaths and service roads not being built scientifically despite spending hundreds of crores?” Minister @krishnabgowda during a review meeting today. #Karnataka #bengaluru

His Name is Avinash Agrawal. The Viral trump guy from Samay Raina's latent show. one very good thing about Latent show is IT actually gives a platform to some real hidden gems of India. Bro is copy paste of Donald with too much humour.

What happens when Food Safety Department really does their job? Watching this legendary scene on loop !!! I dream of an India when this becomes the norm 🔥🔥🔥 #FI

Indians went from flexing their Brahmin caste in late 1800s to absolutely hating their caste in 2026.

Well done @DineshKarthik! Such a shame when Sky Cricket can do this but not Star Sports who are too busy showing 3rd grade broadcast & commentary.

It's not 7 PM, it's just 3 PM in Bengaluru. Such is the magic of Bengaluru's weather turning afternoon into evening in a matter of minutes! 🌧️✨ 🌧️ ☔ #bangalore #bengaluru #bangalorerains

Normalize buying land with your siblings and closest friends and building a place where your families can grow together. Modern isolation isn't how people were meant to live. A few generations ago, extended families often lived just down the road from one another. Meals were shared, support was always nearby, and childcare wasn't a constant concern. Bring back the village.