Guess who will be at the IT jamboree in Bangalore

Guess who will be at the IT jamboree in Bangalore

Murthy baiter Deve Gowda to be chief guest at meet

Daily News and Analysis

This could be like flagging a red rag before a raging bull. The flagship Bangalore IT.in event, projected by the Karnataka government to attract IT investment will have as chief guest none other than former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, who is spearheading a relentless campaign against software major Infosys and its icon N R Narayana Murthy.

The Congress-JD (S) coalition government has apparently decided to invite Gowda to launch the software exposition on October 26 to counter the allegations that he was anti-IT.

Gowda, who projects himself as a champion of farmers and the downtrodden, is in a angry mood, firing at Murthy, who he suspects is hand in gloves with his arch rival Maharashtra governor S M Krishna, to destabilise the 15-month old coalition government. “It is like rubbing salt on the wounds,” says a IT leader, who did not want to be named, on the move by chief minister Dharam Singh to present the JD (S) supremo at the meet.

Incidentally Singh had earlier announced that he had invited United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate the event, which is promoted as Asia's largest IT exposition.

This year’s event has already been in news for wrong reasons. Many IT firms, led by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), had threatened to boycott the event over government's apathy in improving roads and unclogging traffic in the city, which is home to over three lakh IT professionals.

The irony is that it was Murthy who mediated between the agitated IT sector and the government to end the confrontation, which could have damaged the tech event. At the instance of Murthy, the boycott call was lifted and a coordination committee of the IT leaders and the government was set up to chart out short term and medium term actionplans to improve the city’s infrastructure.

In the past Infosys top executives were part of the IT event, promoting Bangalore as an investment destination for the new economy sector.
Gowda has charged Murthy with meddling in the state politics in raising the infrastructure problems in the city and also alleged that Krishna was using Murthy to wreck the government. Indicating his ire at being painted as the one who does not want best infrastructure for Bangalore, Deve Gowda said: “I am aware of the problems and the need for improving the transport system in Bangalore. But should we not come up with what is best for the city? Do we not have efficient bureaucrats.”