I like Bengaluru very much, says President Droupadi Murmu

This is a city whose people have a large heart towards not just people of the country, but also the world, she said

President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday that she likes Bengaluru ‘very much’ and expressed confidence that Karnataka would play a major role in making India a $5 trillion economy.

She was speaking at a civic reception organised for her by the state government at the banquet hall of Vidhana Soudha.

“When I came here for the first time during the presidential election campaign, I told the chief minister that I like Bengaluru and entire Karnataka very much,” Murmu said.

“Because, this is a city whose people have a large heart towards not just people of the country, but also the world. The city is so peace-loving,” she said. Karnataka, Murmu said, has played a leading role in modern industrial development.

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“It is a leading state in many fields like bio-technology, heavy engineering, aviation, research and development, space science and technology. Karnataka is making an invaluable contribution as a leading education and research hub of our country,” she said.

“Visionary politicians, business leaders and entrepreneurs of Karnataka have developed a very good eco-system for industrial development, especially for start-ups,” she said.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the civic reception in Murmu’s honour was a first-of-its-kind event.

“A civic reception for the first citizen of India had not happened before,” he said.

“Murmu had come to Bengaluru before becoming President. She said she’d like to visit again after becoming President. I told that she’d have ample opportunities to visit,” he said.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice Alok Aradhe, Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and others were present.