•COOMI KAPOOR: Do you feel that throughout your career, the national media made an effort pull you down, treat you as an outsider on the political stage of Delhi?

I don’t want to pass such sweeping statements. But I must accept that I have failed to cultivate the media at the national level. I tried but I lacked the experience, with only a state-level political career of 40 years behind me before I came to the Centre. To cultivate the national media was a new assignment for me. The media was not against me; it was just my misfortune.

•SHEKHAR GUPTA: Can you tell us why you fought with Narayana Murthy of Infosys?

Narayana Murthy has brought name and fame to the IT sector in my home state. But we have a comprehensive Land Reforms Bill, which states that not an inch of land can be given for a non-agricultural purposes unless you amend the Bill to make provisions for industrial purposes. That’s why my officers were unable to clear his requests. Then I introduced an amendment. I earmarked a certain portion of land for the IT industry, including for Narayana Murthy. But I did say that in any project submitted to the government, either by domestic or foreign investors, the project, the nature of the project, its employment potential, all these aspects have to be assessed by a team of officers headed by the chief secretary before the cabinet will clear it. That is the system I had adopted. Narayana Murthy had applied for approximately 2,000 acres in different parts of the state. There are 1,600 IT companies in Bangalore and even a company like Wipro, a stalwart of the IT sector, had not taken more than 50 acres. I wanted to know why Murthy wanted over 2,000 acres. There is no personal enmity, but this was poor people’s land and they received meagre compensation for their land.

... contd.