Veteran entrepreneur Mohandas Pai has come under attack from leaders of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) after questioning the organisation’s campaign of visiting IT companies and demanding employee details in the name of securing jobs for Kannadigas.
The controversy escalated on November 2 after Pai took to X to object to what he described as vigilante groups interfering with the functioning of private companies. Addressing Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Home Minister G Parameshwara, he called on the government to put an end to the exercise.
“For our @CMofKarnataka we cannot have Vigilante groups running the State when we have @DKShivakumar as our CM. This must stop,” Pai wrote.
https://t.co/cSzvNwEsb4. For our @CMofKarnataka we cannot have Vigilante groups running the State when we have @DKShivakumar as our CM. This must stop @PriyankKharge @lkatheeq
— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) November 2, 2026
In a separate post, he questioned whether the state government was allowing activist groups to exercise authority over businesses instead of enforcing the law itself.
“@CMofKarnataka avare You are our CM. Please decide if you are ruling our state or these vigilantes are running the state,” he wrote.
@CMofKarnataka avare You are our CM. Please decide if you are ruling our state or these vigilantes are running the state @DKShivakumar @PriyankKharge @lkatheeq @rk_misra @kiranshaw @republic @RahulGandhi @INCIndia @DeccanHerald @BPACofficial @BCLIPAlumni @CPBlr @DgpKarnataka
— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) November 3, 2026
Rather than addressing Pai’s concerns, KRV president T A Narayana Gowda responded with personal attacks, likening the entrepreneur to Shakuni, the antagonist from the Mahabharata. He accused Pai of repeatedly provoking Kannadigas and acting against their interests.
“There is a person in the IT sector, an eccentric named Mohandas Pai, who keeps coming out from time to time and provoking and irritating Kannadigas. Whenever I see Mohandas Pai, I feel that he is playing the role of Shakuni from the Mahabharata in the present Kaliyuga,” Gowda said.
Gowda then issued a menacing warning, claiming that Kannadigas could destroy the ‘Shakuni clan’ in just a minute.
“I am warning Shakuni, Mohandas Pai, that if Kannadigas decide to destroy the Shakuni clan, it will take them just one minute,” he said.
#BREAKING
‘Mohandas Pai is Karnataka’s Shakuni, will be forced to leave the state’: KRV activist threatens IT veteran
“Mohandas Pai needs to be taught a lesson. He claims to be a Kannadiga but acts against the interests of Kannadigas. He is like Shakuni from the Mahabharata. He is Karnataka’s Shakuni, and that is not good for our people”
— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) November 3, 2026
The threats come against the backdrop of KRV’s ‘Agraha Abhiyana’, a campaign seeking preferential employment opportunities for Kannadigas in private companies operating in the state.
The organisation claims to have approached more than 200 IT companies over two days, asking their human resources departments to disclose how many Kannadigas are employed at different levels. Gowda has announced that the exercise will continue until 30 November 2026, after which the organisation plans to submit its findings to the state government.
KRV wants the government to take the demand for job reservations to the Cabinet and establish a time-bound implementation plan. Gowda has also ruled out calling off the campaign despite objections from the government and police.
Chief Minister Shivakumar has meanwhile cautioned Kannada organisations against intimidating companies or taking the law into their own hands, while assuring them that the government would examine their demands.
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