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Ten CMs try to woo Microsoft chairman

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Ten chief ministers and one governor attended the meeting with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates held in Balli Hi, in the Maurya Sheraton hotel, in New Delhi on Thursday. It is not known what transpired at the luncheon meeting, but once they came out each chief minister explained the suggestions he had made and how Gates responded.

The chief ministers of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra were among those who attended the meeting. The governor of Punjab also attended the meeting, as administrator of Chandigarh.

So excited were the politicians about meeting Gates that some reached an hour and a half before the scheduled time of the meeting. Keshubhai Patel of Gujarat arrived first around 1100 hours (IST) though the meeting was scheduled after 1230 hours.

Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh walked in next. The Net-savvy chief minister was immediately surrounded by newspersons who wanted to know what he expected from the meeting with Gates.

Prakash Singh Badal of Punjab, Delhi's Sheila Dikshit, Haryana's Om Prakash Chautala, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot and others managed to sneak into Balli Hi without the knowledge of mediapersons.

Karnataka's S M Krishna posed for pictures with Gates on the 16th floor of the hotel before proceeding to the rooftop restaurant. "I have invited him to visit Karnataka," Krishna told mediapersons.

"I have accepted the invitation," Gates responded, with a smile.

While the chief ministers of Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan decided not to talk to the media in the hotel lobby, Naidu, Chautala and Dikshit were eager to express their views.

"Gates impressed upon us the usefulness of e-governance in running a transparent administration and of using regional languages in computers. I am definitely going to use e-governance in running the state administration," said a beaming Naidu.

Chautala told Gates that his state could give more opportunities to the information technology sector. "We are nearest to Delhi and closest to an international airport. We will extend all possible facilities to the IT sector," Chautala promised.

Not to be left behind, Shiela Dikshit told newspersons how impressed she was after meeting Bill Gates.

However, having had enough of chief ministers, the media had little time for what Kerala's representative, the state's education minister, had to say.

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