Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu faced probing questions from a couple of students of Chalapathi Institute of Technology, Mothadaka during a brief interaction with them here on Thursday.
Sravanthi, a final year engineering student, asked Mr. Naidu why he had chosen Hyderabad of all the cities in the State for development into an information technology hub. She also wanted to know how he planned to address the fears and concerns of students in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions over their future in Hyderabad.
Having lectured for over an hour about his efforts to develop Brand Hyderabad, Mr. Naidu gave an elaborate explanation about the advantages of Hyderabad such as air connectivity and availability of land.
“Had I not promoted Brand Hyderabad, the investors would have opted for other cities like Bangalore and Chennai. I also had plans drawn up to develop Vijayawada and Tirupati by starting IT regional hubs, but then I lost power in 2004 and the development came to a standstill in coastal Andhra,” Mr. Naidu said.
The TDP president said “I am doing this (yatra) to express solidarity with you. If I am given a chance again, I will resolve the issues within six months,” he said. A major part of his speech was devoted to his efforts in reviving the State’s economy and developing Hyderabad as an IT hub.
“I convinced Bill Gates to set up Microsoft Development Centre in Hyderabad, the first office outside USA. I had done all the marketing myself, carrying loads of files to the IT offices. I roped in L & T, to build a world class Hi-Tec City in just 15 months,” he added. “Name any project, the ORR, ISB, international air port and Golden Quadrilateral, I have started it. I am one of the architects of modern India,” Mr. Naidu claimed. He targeted Congress saying that it had created a rift between the two regions for political reasons.
