Thursday, October 20 2005 19:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Hurt by attacks against him by former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) supremo H D Deve Gowda, Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy today (Oct 20, 2005) resigned as Chairman of the Bangalore International Airport Authority Limited (BIAL).

Within days after Gowda took pot shots at him, Murthy shot off a letter to Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, conveying his decision to him, in another twist in the uneasy relationship between the IT sector and the Congress-JDS coalition.

Anguished over Deve Gowda's reported questioning his contribution to the BIAL during the last five years, Murthy said, "I wish he had asked me personally before going to the press, or talked to you or ascertained it from members of the (BIAL) board". I am disappointed that a former Prime Minister did not accord me this basic courtesy", Murthy said.

Murthy said he was also pained, "more so, that leaders in the Government like you (Dharam Singh) did not even clarify my role in the company and the work that has been done".

"I have spent enormous amount of time and energy in interacting with the Government in New Delhi and the Government here to make this work. The records prove themselves", Murthy against whom Gowda had made some sarcastic comments recently, said.

A day after a meeting with Murthy attended by him and the chief minister, Gowda had attacked the IT industry, accusing 'some quarters' in them of making concerted efforts to destabilise the Coalition Government.

Gowda had also ridiculed Murthy's suggestion at the meeting for shifting the focus on urban governance, saying the views of elite did not tally with reality and questioned if Murthy had knowledge about rural life.

This apart, in a letter to the Chief Minister last week, Gowda had accused some IT companies of misusing the land allotted to them for real estate purpose and asked him to be cautious in taking final decision on granting 845 acres of land sought by Infosys for a new software development centre and township.

Murthy has sent a copy of his resignation letter to BIAL CEO Albert Brunner.

Agitated over infrastructural woes in Bangalore, considered the country's technology hub, the IT sector was up in arms against the Government for not doing enough to ease traffic congestion and provide better roads and had threatened to boycott the 'Bangalore IT. in 2005', the state's annual premier IT event, beginning next week.

In a damage control exercise, the government held a dialogue with the IT industry and sought to mollify them by announcing some schemes to make conditions better in Bangalore.

Gowda's fresh attacks against the IT sector and Murthy came when things appeared to have cooled down in the Government-IT relations.