Deve Gowda at the inauguration of Bangalore IT.in 2005 on Wednesday. (AFP)

Oct. 26: Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda took his battle to an infotech den today, telling a showcase event that companies must provide jobs to those displaced by land acquisition.

Gowda, whose caustic comments forced Infosys’s N.R. Narayana Murthy to step down from the helm of an airport project, told Bangalore IT.in that the state government would be asked to impose conditions such as job allotments before giving land to infotech companies.

Referring to Infosys, Gowda had last week objected to what he termed “indiscriminate conversion of agriculture lands in favour of a single IT company”. The company had rebutted his charge.

Gowda’s comments today seemed to suggest that his showdown with the industry is aimed at safeguarding the interests of the local populace.

His demand came amid a growing perception in Karnataka that though Bangalore continues to be the infotech capital of India, most of the resultant jobs have gone to professionals hailing from other states, including Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Gowda also harped on his pet theory, accusing some companies of launching a “whisper campaign” to destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka.

Gowda, whose Janata Dal (Secular) is a partner in the Congress-led government, said the campaign that started soon after the coalition came to power sought to create an impression that IT companies were leaving Bangalore due to its poor infrastructure. The drive, he said, was aimed at destabilising the government.

However, he clarified that he “saluted” the infotech industry’s contribution to creating wealth in the country and said he was not “anti-IT”.

“I am not going to minimise the contribution of the IT industry. I am not jealous about your earnings. I am not bothered (about that),” said Gowda, who had earlier raised doubts about Murthy’s contribution to Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

The former Prime Minister was the chief guest at the infotech event despite suggestions earlier that he had decided to stay away.

Murthy is now in the US. Infosys is among the infotech companies that have set up a stall at the venue of the four-day event.

Over 150 domestic IT firms and 120 international companies are taking part in this year’s edition, which had faced some uncertainty after a group of companies, unhappy over the state of infrastructure in the city, threatened to boycott the event. Incessant rain flooding the campuses of companies like Wipro has again turned the spotlight on the inadequacies of infrastructure.

Chief minister N. Dharam Singh said the government had cleared a proposal to build an eight-lane, 109-km peripheral ring road at a cost of Rs 1,190 crore.