Corporate bigwigs make beeline for a date with ministers

Parivartan (change) mantra by Trinamool Congress (TMC) is now catching the fancy of industrialists too, as most of them are lining up with their best wishes and to get an appointment with its supremo Mamata Banerjee and her associates.

Latest in the line is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Infosys Technologies Kris Gopalakrishnan, who has sent a letter to the state industry and commerce minister Partha Chatterjee congratulating him on the party’s victory and also inviting him to the company headquarters in Bangalore.

When asked about his slated meeting with Purnendu Chatterjee founder and Chairman of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), the minister said, “Why Chatterjee, even Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys and JSW Steel Managing Director Sajjan Jindal have sent letters and want to meet us. The list is too long, a lot of national and international business leaders are in the list and they congradulated on the victory and some of them want to meet Didi too,” Chatterjee said.

Speaking further about the invitation from Gopalakrishnan, he said, “The infosys chief wants to meet me and has invited me to the company headquarters in Bangalore. Now, I have some political appointments and have not decided on when to meet him.” The development holds significance as Infosys — the second largest information technology (IT) services provider in India — has been allotted 50 acres of land in Rajarhat for setting up a development centre in the city, by the former Left Front government in November last year.

Meanwhile, JSW Steel promoted JSW Bengal Steel’s proposed steel plant in West Medinipur district is planning to place orders for equipments by September-October this year. TCG group chairman Purnendu Chatterjee is also expected to meet the industry minister and Banerjee soon. Last week, after the TMC victory even Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata had send a letter to the West Bengal chief minister congratulating the party.

“We have done our home work on the nitty-grittes of the industry and will work accordingly. As an industry minister, my priority would be for the development of the sector in the state,” Chatterjee added. The industrial ministry is planning to bring out a white paper, which will have the details of the industrial projects planned in West Bengal since 1991. “The list will include details on how many of those projects have been realised and how much land was acquired. I will present it to the chief minister and will decide on it,” he said.