'Fabricated news': Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw questions authenticity of reports claiming her 'offer to repair Bengaluru roads'

Bengaluru: Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who on Tuesday met Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar days after a bitter online spat, questioned the source of reports claiming that she had offered to repair roads in Bengaluru.

Expressing amusement at what she called 'fabricated news' which reported of former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s post on 'X' hailing her 'supposed offer', Mazumdar-Shaw said, "please ask them to share their source of this info about my offer to repair roads."

Shaw has been critical of Bengaluru’s infrastructure issues on social media and has brought it to the notice of state government in previous occasions, inviting criticism from political leaders of the state's ruling dispensation.

On Tuesday, the Biocon chief met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar to greet them on the occasion of Deepavali and assured her cooperation for Bengaluru’s development.

Earlier, Chidambaram had posted, "I noted with interest Mrs Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's offer to fund the development of some roads in Bengaluru. A great offer! Congratulations." He added, "The problem with our public works is not the lack of public money; the problem is in the execution of the work."

On October 13, Kiran wrote on X, "I had an overseas business visitor to Biocon Park who said ‘Why are the roads so bad and why is there so much garbage around? Doesn’t the Govt want to support investment? I have just come from China and can't understand why India can’t get its act together, especially when the winds are favourable?"  

Following up, she had also posted, "We are in this dire situation because of past govts failure to act in time. This government has the opportunity to change this and act fast to fix these decades of deteriorating infrastructure and garbage management." 

(With DHNS inputs)