Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), who is almost the heir–apparent to the Telangana strongman and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is on a two-week tour to United States of America. He began his official itinerary with Chicago, Illinois.
As a minister KTR wears many hats including the responsibility of Information Technology, Major Industries, Municipal Administration and Urban Development. KTR, who was in charge of the Palair by-election and saw through the victory of the TRS nominee and colleague minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, embarked on a visit to the USA on the same day of the declaration of the triumphant election result.[pullquote position=”right”] “No, I don’t miss USA. I always wanted to be part India growth story and wanted to return back to India to serve people.”[/pullquote]
The minister, who impressed Tim Cook and people across with his speech at the inaugural of Apple’s prestigious map development centre in Hyderabad just a couple of days before flying to the US and is excited about mega corporations like Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft making Hyderabad their second home, is now exploring opportunities to entice other industries as well to Telangana.
Typical of an affable leader that he is, KTR squeezed some time from his tight schedule for an interview with Gopal K of Telugu360.com over phone.
First of all, congrats on getting the Apple maps center to Hyderabad. Why has this announcement been kept under wraps for a long time?
Yes, this project has been in works for some time. Apple, as you all know, is very secretive about their projects until they take a final shape and, naturally so, they wanted to keep this as surprise. Obviously, these projects take lot of time to materialize. We have been in communication with Apple for a while and finally it happened. Our Chief Minster played a key role in facilitating these conversations and we are proud that Hyderabad is now home to all the top tech companies — Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon. I’m excited about the growth story for Hyderabad.
Great that Hyderabad is home to all the tech companies. However, one minor complaint is that all the development is going to Bangalore and tech companies are using Hyderabad for back office work. How do you plan to address this?
Yes. That is right. We have to understand that Bangalore is at least 10 years ahead of Hyderabad in the game and Bangalore has a huge ecosystem in place. That is what we are trying to put in place even in Hyderabad. We started T-Hub and Gaming and Animation incubation center.
You came to USA last year. How different is your visit now?
Last year, the visit was mainly focused on tech investments. Now, we are looking at multiple industries. I’m just now talking to a food processing industry in Des Moines, Iowa and everyone is excited about India growth story and Telangana in particular. I’m also meeting a number of government officials. We need to bring the best practices across the world to Telangana. So we are talking to a number of cities in the US and reaching out to thought leaders to see how well we can make the processes transparent and help the common man.
Of late, there have been reports that students of Telugu community are facing challenges at the ports of entry (PoE) in USA. Can the government help iron this out?
These are sporadic anomalies. Hundreds of people keep coming into the US every day and very very few have these challenges. The Hyderabad Consul-General Michael Mullins is seated next to me. They are always willing to help. If you have any questions about a particular university or about the US in general, reach out to the consulate. They are active in social media (usandhyderabad). I’ve also reached out to Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Minister Sushma Swaraj and her team are also helping out as and when needed.
Are you missing the USA? Especially, the five-day work and two-day unwinding sessions, as you are slogging it out 24X7 all days?
No. I don’t miss USA. I always wanted to go back to India and try to make a change. India has a great potential and that is where all the growth is happening. I always had clear cut goals to go back and work there. I encourage all the NRIs to come back to India and be part of India’s growth story.
There is a general tendency among spouses (women) desiring to stay back in the US. Was there any resistance from your better half when moving back to India?
No, I always set expectations with my wife from the beginning. We always knew we would be going back and it was just a matter of time. So being clear with your life partners will help the transition happen easily.
Who do you think is going to be the next president of USA?
I really don’t have an opinion. Whoever it is, I’d like to see someone who is pro-India.
With that, KTR is off to his next meeting.
