Insane Gowda rants and raves

Gowda downplays NRN quitting
Deccan Herald


JD (S) leader Deve Gowda said Infosys had sought 845 acres of land in Sarjapur only to build a star hotel there.

In a scathing attack on Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, who resigned as chairman of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda on Saturday said Bangalore’s development will not come to a standstill due to Mr Murthy’s resignation.

Armed with certain documents on the JD (S), the Congress and the coalition Government’s contribution to the state, Mr Gowda, addressing a press conference, said he had not uttered a word to belittle Mr Murthy’s contribution to the airport project.

He said: “At the meeting convened by Chief Minister N Dharam Singh on October 15, I only asked Mr Murthy to have a discussion with the government officials and me on rural and urban issues.

On the airport project, I had told him that though the project was conceived in early 1990s, the concessional agreement was signed only after the coalition government came to power in the state.

“I had also asked him for his suggestions on what is best for Bangalore – the Bangalore Metro, monorail or ELRTS. In what way have I hurt him?”

Mr Gowda denied that he had cast any aspersions on Mr Murthy in his letter to Mr Singh demanding that land allotment to IT companies, including Infosys, be brought under scrutiny.

Request to Sindhia

“I requested Industries Minister P G R Sindhia to provide details on the extent of land allotted to various IT companies and the comparison of employment generated by such companies, which have taken government land, with other IT firms like Wipro, HP and IBM which have not been provided government land,” Mr Gowda said.

“Infosys has sought 845 acres of land in Sarjapur for software development and residential township. But it is planning to set up a star hotel there,” he alleged. “They have sought another 350 acres of land in Yelahanka, which is basically agricultural land, and this land acquisition will render many farmers landless,” he said.

When his attention was drawn to Mr Murthy’s claim about Infosys’ contribution to the IT sector, Mr Gowda said “nobody is indispensable”.

“Infosys employs only around 22,000 people in the State as against the total 3 lakh employed in the IT sector. Around 85 per cent of the over 1,500 IT companies in the city were functioning from rented premises. Do they not contribute to IT sector growth?” he asked.

Vested interests

Barring Infosys, no other IT company in the city was interfering in the State’s administration. This is because some officials and vested interests had invested in Infosys, he alleged.

Asked whether he would request Mr Narayana Murthy to withdraw his resignation, Mr Gowda questioned “why should I? Neither me nor the coalition government appointed Mr Murthy as BIAL chairman,” he added.

JD(S) SUPREMO’S REASONING

*Narayana Murthy’s name and fame is being used to destabilise the coalition govt.

*S M Krishna & Co efforts to bring down Govt using Murthy’s resignation will not succeed.

*Murthy’s resignation will not stall Bangalore’s development

*Murthy is not the only one who has contributed to IT sector growth

*Behind an able man, there are other able men; nobody is indispensable.

*I am not pained by Mr Murthy’s resignation. The only resignation, which had pained me was when Sir M Visvesvaraya resigned from the diwan’s post when he was questioned on the cost of construction of KRS dam.

*Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are committed to having a democratic and secular government in Karnataka.

*Today, I have discussed issues of infrastructure and airport; next will be BMP, BDA.

IF HE GOES...

Official may have to replace him

Who would replace Mr N R Narayana Murthy as the chairman of BIAL in case he refuses to withdraw his resignation? There is no answer from the government at present barring Chief Minister Dharam Singh saying he would convince Mr Murthy to reconsider his decision.

Sources in the secretariat said that if Mr Murthy sticks to his decision, then an official may have to head the BIAL. “Who would like to take the position of Mr Murthy? No one from the industry would like to head BIAL because Mr Murthy has been humiliated. The only alternative is to appoint an official,” a source said.

The Deve Gowda camp is toying with the idea of approaching former governor Satish Chandran to take up the post.