Bengaluru: Congress MLC and KPCC media and communication department president Ramesh Babu on Tuesday accused Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav of making “misleading and false claims” about Karnataka benefiting from proposed bullet train corridors, alleging sustained neglect of the state by the Centre in railway development.
Reacting to Vaishnav’s recent statement that Karnataka would gain from bullet train projects, Ramesh Babu said the claim was “baseless propaganda” aimed at misleading the public. He alleged that the BJP-led Centre had consistently denied Karnataka its fair share of railway projects, central grants and infrastructure investments.
“The assertion that bullet train corridors will benefit Karnataka is nothing but political deception,” he said, adding that the Centre was attempting to divert attention from the delay and neglect of several conventional rail projects crucial to the state.
Ramesh Babu pointed out that multiple railway proposals initiated during the tenure of former railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge under the UPA government remain unimplemented. These include new rail lines, doubling and electrification works, and key connectivity projects such as North Karnataka–Hyderabad, Kalaburagi–Bidar and Hubballi–Ankola. He also alleged that the strengthening of the South Western Railway zone had been ignored.
Calling it more than administrative failure, he said the delay reflected “political vendetta” against Karnataka by the central BJP government.
The Congress leader also cited the non-invitation of Karnataka’s Minister of State for Railways, V Somanna, to a recent press conference on railway projects concerning the state, terming it a serious breach of protocol. “Why was a press conference on Karnataka’s railway issues held without a Karnataka minister?” he asked, attributing it to internal factionalism within the BJP.
Ramesh Babu demanded clear answers from the Union Railway Minister on why Karnataka’s legitimate railway grants were withheld, why projects proposed earlier were stalled, and who was responsible for excluding Somanna from the press briefing.
“The Centre is treating Karnataka like a second-class state,” he said, adding that the issue was not merely about development but about justice, dignity and federalism. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee strongly condemns what it termed repeated injustices by the BJP-led Centre, he added.
