Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has demanded that the Karnataka government publish a white paper detailing investment received and jobs created in the state over the past three-and-a-half years, intensifying a political dispute over industrial development and employment.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday, Kumaraswamy responded to criticism from Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara, who he said had described him as an “unemployment minister”. Kumaraswamy said he had accepted the remark as a challenge and argued that the minister lacked information about his departments and work.
Kumaraswamy, who holds the Union portfolios of Heavy Industries and Steel, cited developments in the electric vehicle sector under ministries associated with him. He referred to the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles Phase II scheme, the PM E-DRIVE programme, the Production Linked Incentive scheme, and initiatives involving capital goods, equipment, battery charging stations and battery-cell manufacturing.
He said a large battery-cell manufacturing programme involving an investment of ₹11,400 crore had been implemented. The minister also said the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme, with an expenditure of ₹3,435 crore, was being used to deploy more than 38,000 electric buses across the country. According to his statement, 27,555 electric buses had been registered under the mechanism and 4,500 had been allocated to Bengaluru.
The allocation places the city’s public bus transition within a wider national electric mobility programme. The statement did not provide a deployment schedule for Bengaluru, details of the agencies responsible for operating the buses, or the locations of charging infrastructure. It also did not specify how many of the allocated buses had entered service.
Kumaraswamy further claimed that Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited was making a profit of ₹1,500 crore when he took charge as Heavy Industries Minister, compared with ₹200 crore previously. He said the Steel Authority of India Limited had recorded 315% growth, without specifying the base period or indicator used for the comparison.
He also referred to efforts to retain the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Bhadravati, saying he had held meetings and visited the facility several times. Kumaraswamy asked Karnataka Information Technology and Biotechnology Minister Priyank Kharge to disclose the investment attracted and jobs created after taking charge of that portfolio.
The Union minister also questioned the reported withdrawal of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s proposed project at Narasapura in Kolar. He said the project had been planned to manufacture 1 million electric vehicles annually and asked why the company cancelled it. The statement did not provide details of the company’s decision, the project’s approval status, or the employment impact of its withdrawal.
The demand for a white paper now places investment commitments, completed projects, job creation and cancelled industrial plans at the centre of the Karnataka government’s response. No details of a government decision on issuing such a document were provided in the statement.
