Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the state government was not giving either land or permission to carry out infrastructure development in Karnataka.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), he said: “We have been able to create a very compliant mining sector that has exceeded the necessity and we are currently looking at countries to import the excessive coal.” 

He took a subtle dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the latter’s “inability” to pronounce the names of saints, seers, and leaders of Karnataka. But Goyal himself fumbled while pronouncing the same names, sending the audience into a tizzy. Goyal asked peole not to follow the foreigners’ way of pronouncing the names of cities.