Bangalore, Oct. 22: Karnataka chief minister Dharam Singh requested N.R. Narayana Murthy to return to the international airport project, but ally H.D. Deve Gowda kept up his attack on the Infosys boss.

Under pressure from the Congress leadership, which ordered instant damage control, Dharam called up Narayana Murthy in the US and urged him to withdraw his resignation as non-executive chairman of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. He got no assurance.

“Murthy told me he would explain his reasons for resigning on his return from the US on November 2. I hope he will stay on. I have also apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr Ahmed Patel (political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi) of my discussions with Mr Murthy,” the chief minister said.

A senior cabinet minister said the AICC had sent a message to Dharam through general secretary Vayalar Ravi to act immediately to restore the government’s image. Ravi also advised the chief minister not to speak out against his predecessor and Maharashtra governor S.M. Krishna.

But Deve Gowda showed no signs of scaling down his attack. “Murthy’s resignation is being used as the last weapon to bring down the Dharam Singh government by Krishna and his company,” he said.

The resignation had come after Gowda questioned his contribution to the project.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader heaped praise on the other big IT player, Azim Premji. “Look at how Wipro’s Premji has spoken. He has spoken of co-operating with the government....”

Deve Gowda said he had not sought Narayana Murthy’s resignation. “All I said was that in spite of Murthy heading the airport consortium, the BIAL took five years to get the project going.”

In response to Infosys’s rebuttal on land-grab charges that Gowda has levelled against the company, he said: “I have only requested the government to set up a committee for evaluating Infosys’s application for additional land of 845 acres.”