Successive govts ill treated Narayana Murthy: Krishna

Appalled over the crumbling infrastructure in Bangalore, former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna on Tuesday held the coalition governments responsible for messing up connectivity to the new international airport.

"The Congress government (1999-2004) appointed Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy as chairman of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL). A person of his stature would have taken the right decision at the right time. But successive governments treated him shabbily," Krishna said interacting with the media.

It was during the Congress-JD(S) government rule that Murthy tendered his resignation in October 2005 after former prime minister H D Deve Gowda questioned his contributions towards BIAL. The then coalition government did not show any interest in retaining him.

Krishna said his government had convinced Murthy to take over the role of BIAL chairman. "He did not volunteer to do that job. We wanted him to head the BIAL and we successfully convinced him," he stated.

"Look at the mess today. I am shocked to see that BIAL connectivity is in the doldrums. When we signed the final agreement with BIAL, the government had prepared a plan to provide connectivity by the time the airport commenced operations. I wonder what went wrong during the last 3-4 years," he said taking a dig at the BJP and JD(S).

He pointed out that lack of connectivity to the airport would cause hardship to people. "I am told a person needs close to 180 minutes from a distant part of the city to reach the airport when the duration of flight between Bangalore and Chennai is just 25 minutes. Why did the governments not visualise the infrastructure bottlenecks," Krishna, who was recently appointed the head of the state election management and coordination committee, said.

On the growing demand to continue the HAL Airport operations, he said the government was facing two issues: "When you look at this demand as a matter of convenience, you feel like retaining the HAL Airport. However, the BIAL has been implemented and will be operated by a set of investors. Then the matter needs a different view."

Krishna, who had initiated several major infrastructure projects in the city during his tenure as the chief minister, was of the opinion that Bangalore had suffered during the last three years.

When asked if Bangalore's development would be part of Congress' election mandate, he said: "Bangalore has to be developed since it is the gateway for investments in Karnataka. But rural infrastructure also has to be doubled since both Bangalore and non-urban centres have suffered during the last three years."