Telugu Desam president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has claimed that he assiduously built up the image of Hyderabad as an IT destination, when he was the Chief Minister for nine years and the former president of the US, Bill Clinton, and the former prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair, visited the city during his tenure and showered praise on him for promoting IT in the city.
In an interaction session with students in a private college in Guntur district on Thursday, he said that he had brought Microsoft to Hyderabad by persuading Bill Gates to set up a development centre in the city. “Bill Gates was not keen on meeting politicians but somehow I managed to get an interview and then impressed upon him the need to set up Microsoft centre in the city. I promoted Hyderabad by bringing Clinton to the city, even though Karnataka and other States were also competing with Andhra Pradesh to arrange a Clinton visit. During TDP tenure, Hyderabad grew by leaps and bounds as an IT hub and we built the hi-tech city, which is the pride of Hyderabad,” he said.
The Congress, he alleged, had completely ruined the State during the past nine-ten years and the party had incited regional feelings by coming to an understanding with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. “Now the State is being torn apart by agitations and the Union Government is paying no heed to it. The ruling Congress party is playing politics while Andhra Pradesh is burning and the Telugu people will not tolerate such an attitude,” he said.
He asserted that he and his party would strive for the welfare of Telugu people in all the regions of the State and all over the world.
Currently, Chandrababu Naidu is on a bus tour in the coastal districts on what is described as “atma gourava yatra” (a trip to uphold the self-esteem of the Telugu people).
sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in