The new 65-year-old minister for Information Technology in the Congress government in Karnataka,S R Patil,and the chairman of the states vision group for Information Communication Technology,T V Mohandas Pai,who criticised the Congress choice of Patil as IT minister,met Friday and promised to work together in the interest of Karnataka. Mr Pai who earlier this year made a presentation to the BJP government on ICT vision for Karnataka made the same presentation to the new IT minister S R Patil on Friday. The minister was enthused by the report and Mr Pai was happy with the response, said the secretary for information technology in the Karnataka government,I S N Prasad,who facilitated the meeting. At the meeting,Mohandas Pai who heads the eight-member ICT vision group constituted by the government outlined the road map for undisputed leadership in ICT by 2020 for Karnataka. The meeting discussed the path to taking IT exports from Karnataka from Rs 1.35 lakh crore to Rs 4 lakh crore in the coming years,the IT secretary said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting,the IT minister said the ICT vision group chairman had apologised to him over the recent controversy between them after Pai and chairperson of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar Shaw questioned the choice of the 65-year-old Patil as IT minister despite the presence of young MLAs like Dinesh Gundu Rao and Krishna Byre Gowda who had been partially funded by Pai and Shaw through the Bangalore Political Action Committee for the May 5 polls. Pai called the controversy a result of misunderstanding and sought to end it immediately,Patil said. If we fight it is the IT industry that will suffer. I have come as IT minister to serve the state and bring back its past glory as the IT capital of the country, Patil said following the meeting. Speaking after the meeting the ICT vision group chairman Mohandas Pai said the minister had conveyed to him the feeling that the criticism over his age had been unfair and had promised to look into recommendations of the vision group on aspects like taking IT to tier II and tier III cities. We had certain views which we aired publicly. He thought that we were unfair to to him. We shook hands and said we will work together. The meeting went well and the minister was very enthusiastic and promised to support the IT industry. He said he would try to incorporate some of the vision group recommendations in the new state budget, Pai said.
