DKS as CM can give a big push to tunnel roads, PRR and Bidadi township

It is also DK Shivakumar who pushed for the restructuring of the city administration and split the civic body into five and created the Greater Bengaluru Authority, a reform over a decade in the making. | Photo credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.

DK Shivakumar, who is slated to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka, has created a sense of hope and foreboding depending on who one talks to.

While some sections hope to now support major infrastructure projects in the city, those opposed to this development model and those who are losing land to these mega projects fear it will break through all opposition.

Swearing in of Karnataka CM LIVE

A senior official working with the chief minister-designate said, “Twin Tunnel Roads, Peripheral Ring Road and Bidadi Township projects spearheaded by Mr. Shivakumar did not get financial support from the government, forcing him to take loans.” “Now these projects will become a priority for the government and get a big hit,” he said.

While Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Ltd (B-SMILE) may soon award the contract for road tunnels, the PRR and Bidadi city projects are stuck in the quagmire of land acquisition. While the placement of the skydeck was recently completed, it has yet to take off.

V Ravichandar, a member of the Brand Bengaluru committee, said Mr Shivakumar sees himself as SM Krishna’s successor as far as Bengaluru is concerned and is likely to work on the city’s peripheries to equip them to absorb the next phase of urban expansion and industrial investment.

The PRR and Bidadi Township are coming up on the outskirts of the city and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plans to develop 11 layouts along the PRR.

Apart from the Namma Metro, the last major infrastructure projects in Bengaluru were the Outer Ring Road and the Kempegowda International Airport, spearheaded by Mr. Krishna. It was only under Mr. Shivakumar as Bengaluru’s Development Minister that big ticket infrastructure projects were launched, some long pending like PRR and Bidadi Township and some new projects like tunnel roads.

It is also Mr. Shivakumar who pushed for the restructuring of the city administration and split the civic body into five and created the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), a reform over a decade in the making.

However, not everyone agrees with this development model, and there is intense opposition to tunneling in the city and to acquiring land for multiple projects on the outskirts of the city.

“Mr Shivakumar once said that if he was the Chief Minister, he would not have succumbed to the opposition to the steel flyover project and would have gone ahead with it. This betrays an undemocratic strain. He has always advocated a very capital-intensive, private transport-led development model where the poor do not find space against the interests that many times oppose the interests of the street. He consistently puts his hope on the street of Bengaluru. Mr Minister, he does not promote any opposition to his policies, not only in Bengaluru,” he said activist Vinay Sreenivasa.

Farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, campaigning for the rights of farmers who lost their land to the PRR, said that as Chief Minister, Mr Shivakumar should see the bigger picture and stand by the farmers, otherwise they would be left with no option but to take to the streets.

DK Shivakumar: The Rise of a Trusted Troubleshooter to Karnataka’s Top Position

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar arrives for a joint meeting of the Karnataka Assembly and Council in Bengaluru on March 3, 2025.

KPCC President DK Shivakumar will take a ‘holy dip’ in the Cauvery water during the inauguration of a 10-day ‘padaytra’ from Mekedatu to Bengaluru to demand implementation of the Mekedatu project in Mekedatu on January 9, 2022.

DK Shivakumar seen with then Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna with Kranthi Jyothi at a Quit India Movement rally in Bangalore on August 9, 2003.

Sathanur MLA DK Shivakumar addressing the media accusing Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his family members and his father HD Deve Gowda of alleged involvement in illegal mining and bribery in Bengaluru on 1 August 2006.

Former minister DK Shivakumar greets Governor TN Chaturvedi after receiving the Master of Arts (MA) degree during the KSOU assembly held in Mysore on 8 January 2007.

Mahila Congress members demanding that DK Shivakumar (on the poster) become Karnataka state president. Banners are also placed around the KPCCI office in Bangalore on 13 August 2008.

Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and KPCC Working President DK Shivakumar pay floral tributes outside the Vidhana Soudha on the occasion of National Integration Day marking the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi in Bangalore on November 19, 2009.

KPCC president Mallikarjuna Kharge and former minister DK Shivakumar during a protest rally in Bangalore on 16 November 2006.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Power Minister DK Shivakumar during the Janaashirvada Yatre at the Kurudumale Ganapati Temple in Mulubagil, Kolar district in 2018.

DK Shivakumar as Congress MLA from Kanakapura constituency and Minister for Power in Karnataka.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar seeks the blessings of party president Sonia Gandhi during a ‘thanksgiving’ rally in Mandya in 2013.

DK Shivakumar taken into custody while protesting outside the main gate of Bangalore Central College Campus against the BJP government on 5 February 2009.

Power Minister DK Shivakumar and his brother and MP Suresh Kumar are leaving the Income Tax office.

DK Shivakumar and his family members appear before the Income Tax Department for the seventh time, in Bengaluru on November 6, 2017.

KPCC president DK Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh address Congress workers outside their residence after CBI raids in Bengaluru on October 5, 2020.

DK Shivakumar at his Sadhashivanagar residence during an IT raid on August 2, 2017.

Energy Minister DK Shivakumar offers Tulabhara seva at Kukke Shree Subrahmanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Congress leader DK Shivakumar during the swearing-in ceremony of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka in Bengaluru on May 23, 2018.

DK Shivakumar was detained during a protest against fuel price hike on 11 June 2021.

In a 2021 file photo, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC President DK Shivakumar with party MLAs, MLCs and supporters arrive at Vidhana Soudha on a bullock cart to protest against the BJP government’s failure to control rising petrol and diesel prices.

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With the PRR and Bidadi township projects affecting farmers in Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru South districts where Mr Shivakumar and HD Kumaraswamy are clashing, land acquisition for both projects is expected to become a political flashpoint during the former’s tenure.

Published – 31 May 2026 21:32 IST