Letter asking Foxconn to relocate to Bengaluru fake: Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Saturday issued a clarification that a letter circulating on social media where he supposedly asked Foxconn to relocate its Apple AirPod manufacturing plant from Hyderabad to Bengaluru is fake. “An FIR has been lodged at the Cybercrime Police Station in this regard,” he said.

The two-page letter addressed to Chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn Technology Group) Young Lu, urged the company that the move would hold several mutual benefits. “The city’s exceptional logistics, arrangements, and amenities will undoubtedly be a significant asset to the Apple products industry you have established here,” said the letter.

The letter also claimed that several industries in Hyderabad had expressed interest in relocating to Bengaluru. “We anticipate forming a friendly government in Telangana soon, assuring that you will encounter no hindrances there,” it said. Telangana goes to the polls at the end of this month, and the Congress is one of the biggest players, along with BJP and the ruling BRS.


The letter has proven to be a point on which to attack the Congress for the ruling BRS. Telangana’s IT minister KT Rama Rao has retweeted a post on social media platform X, claiming that this was all a ploy by the Congress to Hyderabad ineffective for its own benefit. “Telangana Congress leaders are mere puppets, playing according to the wishes and desires of leaders in Delhi and Bengaluru,” said the post. In a rally on Saturday, the minister expressed his concern that if KCR is not re-elected as the Chief Minister of Telangana, the state's progress will be halted.

Foxconn grounded its first Telangana facility, which will make wearables like Airpods for Apple, on May 15 this year. Production on the 90 acre unit is expected to begin by March or April next year.