Bengaluru Should Get 'Special Funds' In Union Budget, Says Mohandas Pai Hits Out At Karnataka Govt's Priorities

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Mohandas Pai, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Infosys, on Tuesday said he expected some 'special funds' to be announced in upcoming Union Budget 2026 for Bengaluru.

Pai, who is also a venture capitalist. also launched an attack on Congress government in Karnataka, accusing it of neglecting Bengaluru and pushing policies that, according to him, were dragging the city backwards.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is slated to present Budget 2026 on 1 February.

Also Read | Budget 2026: Is it on Sunday, 1 February or Monday, 2 February?

Pai, in a video interview to news agency PTI, said Bengaluru had suffered under the current Congress administration led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Mohandas Pai alleged that between ₹60,000 crore and ₹70,000 crore had been spent on what he described as 'so-called guarantees.' Half of this, Pai argued, were unnecessary and said that such expenditure had come at the cost of adequate funding for the state capital.

Pai also took aim at Chief Minister Siddaramaia 's reported push for paper ballots in the upcoming Bengaluru City Corporation elections, calling the move“absurd” and out of step with the city's global standing.

“Bangalore city is the greatest tech city in the world. It is the biggest tech centre in the world in terms of people, and you want to take us backwards by having paper ballots. It is ridiculous,” Pai said.

Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar have been pushing for reintroduction of ballot papers replacing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In September last year, Karnataka government's decision on reintroducing ballot papers in the 2026 local body elections drew criticism from current and former government officers.

In the PTI interview, Pai warned that decisions like reverting to paper ballots reflected a troubling“mindset of people in power” and risked damaging Bengaluru's international reputation as a technology hub.

“You can't take the city backwards. You are hurting the reputation of Bangalore,” Pai said, urging the government to focus on strengthening infrastructure and governance in a city that he said drives India's technology economy.

Pai praises Siddaramaiah too

In the same interview, however, Pai praised Siddaramaiah for becoming the longest-serving CM of the Karnataka and called him an 'extraordinary' political leader and a 'role model' for all political leaders across India.

Also Read | Budget 2026: PM Modi pushes for mission-mode reforms to sustain long-term growth

“He has come up from the bottom without anybody helping him, without any family connection, individually because of his hardwork, brilliance, compassion, his determination,” he said.

Earlier criticisms

This is not the first time that Pai has spoken about Bengaluru infrastructure. In September last he had joined Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw while raising alarm over Bengaluru's failing infrastructure. The two industry leaders drew attention towards poor conditions near Google India's office in the city.

Mazumdar-Shaw had earlier reignited the debate over Bengaluru's infrastructure by sharing a visiting foreign executive's critical comments on the city's roads and garbage, prompting Deputy CM DK Shivakumar to say the city deserves collective effort, not constant criticism.

Karnataka ministers Priyank Kharge and MB Patil also acknowledged the problems and said fixing them would require time. They called for "collective effort" to improve the city.

'Challenges Exist'

Shivakumar, who is also the minister in charge of Bengaluru development, without making any reference to Shaw's post, had said Bengaluru has given opportunities, identity, and success to millions-it deserves collective effort, not constant criticism.

"Yes, challenges exist, but we're addressing them with focus and urgency. ₹1,100 crore has been sanctioned for road repairs, 10,000 potholes identified, and over 5,000 already fixed on priority. Major infrastructure works are underway to make Bengaluru more globally competitive," he said in a post on 'X'.

Under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, the East Corporation alone will now retain ₹1,673 crore of its own revenues to directly improve infrastructure in 50 wards, directly benefiting the city's IT corridors, the Deputy CM said.

You can't take the city backwards. You are hurting the reputation of Bangalore.

A month late both Pai and Mazumdar-Shaw showered praises on Shivakumar, terming his leadership key in“rescuing Bengaluru from collapsing under the weight of garbage, debris and potholes.”

The corporate leaders' praise came after Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao claimed to have completed the filling of 18,000 potholes in Bengaluru.

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