KCR, DKS trade barbs over 'letter' asking Foxconn to shift to K'taka

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday engaged in a spat over a purported letter by the Congress leader to Foxconn chairman to shift Apple AirPods manufacturing unit from Hyderabad to Karnataka.

Rao alleged that Shivakumar wrote to several national and international companies in Hyderabad to shift their factories to Karnataka.

Shivakumar rubbished the charge saying that the letter based on which Rao made the allegation was fake. He also got an FIR registered at Vidhana Soudha police station against the creator of the fake letter.

The Bharat Rashtra Samiti today accused the Karnataka Congress government, specifically Deputy CM Shivakumar, of conspiring against Hyderabad.

"Karnataka Congress government has hatched a huge conspiracy against Hyderabad. Big conspiracy by Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar to move national and international companies from Hyderabad to Karnataka," the BRS said in Telugu on its "X" handle.

The BRS alleged that the letters were written to many companies offering incentives to come to Bengaluru. "DKS wrote a letter to the CEO of the company to move the Foxconn that manufactures Apple AirPods from Hyderabad to 'Bangalore'.

Kannada media released that letter," the message on "X" said.

The party alleged that Kannada and English media have reported that the conspiracy to move companies is real. "For elections they have targeted Hyderabad.

The Congress government in Karnataka is plotting to shift industries from Telangana to Bengaluru. Let's reverse the conspiracies of Congress. Let's bring back our KCR government which has Telangana Pride," the BRS said.

The party also posted the purported letter written by DKS with a green stamp of the Government of Karnataka on top of it, to Young Liu, the chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Limited (Foxconn Technology Group).

Besides asking Liu to invest in Karnataka, the letter read, "On behalf of our government, I propose that you consider relocating the Apple AirPods industry, which you plan to set up in Hyderabad to Bangalore'."

"This move holds numerous mutual benefits. Not only it will complement the Apple phone manufacturing industry, but it will also leverage the city's transportation facilities, infrastructure, and available workforce," it further said.