In the sweltering cauldron of Bengaluru's traffic woes, a high-stakes political brawl erupted on October 30, 2025, as Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar launched a no-holds-barred assault on BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, dismissing him as "childish" and "waste material" for opposing the state's ambitious underground tunnel project. The spat, which has polarized the city's elite, stems from Surya's aggressive push for sustainable public transport over what he calls an "extravagant car-centric fiasco." Shivakumar, who oversees Bengaluru's urban development, defended the ₹43,000-crore, 18-km tunnel—envisioned to burrow beneath key bottlenecks like Lalbagh—with a cultural zinger: "No one wants to marry a man without a car." Surya fired back, mocking the scheme as a bizarre fix for "social problems" rather than gridlock, escalating a feud that's as much about egos as engineering.

The genesis of the showdown traces back to October 28, when Surya, the firebrand 33-year-old Yuva Morcha chief, met Shivakumar for an hour-long powwow armed with a PowerPoint blitz. He unveiled a five-pronged blueprint to decongest India's Silicon Valley: (1) Accelerate 300 km of Metro Phase 3 to 3-minute frequencies, citing a 37% Silk Board relief post-Yellow Line; (2) Revive the stalled 300 km suburban rail with dedicated tracks; (3) Deploy dedicated loop buses every 5-10 minutes on Outer Ring Road (ORR) exclusive lanes between KR Puram and Silk Board; (4) Hasten the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) formation with a full-time chair for seamless coordination; and (5) Prioritize "commuters, not cars" by diverting tunnel funds to mass transit, arguing the tunnel's 1,800 vehicles/hour/lane pales against Metro's 69,000 passengers. "Ongoing projects are delayed—finish them first," Surya thundered at a BJP HQ presser, vowing BJP support for Peripheral Ring Road but scorning the tunnel as environmentally reckless and fiscally foolish.

Shivakumar, undeterred, emerged from the meeting touting it as "productive" while sidelining Surya's ideas as unfunded fantasies. "Anybody can suggest, but without money, what can be done?" he retorted, urging Surya and fellow BJP MPs to lobby PM Modi for central dough—Karnataka gets just 10-12% Metro funding now. He greenlit officer scrutiny of Surya's proposals but doubled down on the tunnel, assuring zero Lalbagh damage via edge-aligned portals and subsurface digs. The DCM's marriage quip—tying car ownership to matrimonial prospects—drew Surya's sarcasm: "I was wrong; it's solving why brides shun car-less grooms, not traffic." With Bengaluru's 1.3 crore vehicles choking arteries amid 15-20 daily pedestrian deaths, Shivakumar painted public transport utopias as elite delusions, ignoring the masses' private-wheel cravings.

Also Read: DK Shivakumar’s Sharp Retort to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Fix Bengaluru’s Roads Yourself

The barbs peaked Thursday as Shivakumar, speaking to reporters, eviscerated Surya: "He's childish, lacks experience—a waste material. Out of MP respect, I met him; now he's spewing nonsense." He challenged the lawmaker's car hypocrisy: "Why does Tejasvi travel by car? Let him, his family, and BJP MLAs commute via Metro, buses, autos. We can't force 1.3 crore vehicles public." Surya, per RTO data, countered that only 12% of Bengalureans own cars—"What about the rest's family lives?"—positioning the tunnel as a boon for the privileged few. This isn't mere mudslinging; it's a proxy war over Bengaluru's soul, pitting Congress's infra splash against BJP's green-tinted populism.

As civic suits fly and commuters stew in hour-long crawls, the tunnel's fate hangs on BMLTA's revival and fund flows. Shivakumar eyes a 2028 rollout to slash ORR snarls; Surya demands a U-turn to avert ecological Armageddon. With local polls on the horizon, this MP-DCM dust-up underscores Karnataka's deepening urban rift: progress or prudence? Bengaluru, hold your breath—and your horns.

Also Read: Karnataka Congress Leadership Decision put on Hold Until Bihar Election Results?