'For now, I won't invest a pie in Kerala'

Kochi: My conscience now does not permit me to invest even a rupee in Kerala ever again, Kitex group chairman Sabu Jacob said on Sunday after returning from his trip to Telangana. He said he has plans to initially invest Rs 1,000 crore in Telangana and had given assurances to them to that effect.

Speaking to the media after landing at the Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery here, Jacob also took a dig at Congress MLAs and MP Benny Behanan, who had made complaints against hisunits, by saying that he was "indebted" to them for showing him what was a businessfriendly atmosphere and for opening the way for him to earn crores of money. "I am grateful to them (the Congress MLAs and MPs)," he added.

He, however, declined to react to what Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday that claims of Kitex that Kerala was not investment or business-friendly was a "planned and deliberate" move to humiliate the State. Jacob said he has a lot of respect for the Chief Minister who has the right to scold him or criticise him and therefore, he was not going to react to what Vijayan said. Referring to his two-day visit to Telangana on their invitation, he said that an aerial survey of the industrial parks and the facilities was facilitated by the State government there and before leaving he had discussions with the industries minister and other officials there. He said that his company plans to initially invest Rs 1,000 crore there in the first phase and assurances to that effect have been given to the Telangana government.

After technical evaluations are carried out within the next two weeks, a call would be taken on whether to increase the investment there, he added. He also said that his company has decided that by the end of this month, a final agreement with Telangana will be arrived at and thereafter, within the next two years a certain amount of money would be invested there.

Jacob said that if the people in Kerala come to know of the facilities and offers given to him, not a single business or industry would remain in the State and added that this trip that he took would be an inspiration to all businessmen and industrialists here. He said he will be holding a press meet on Monday to give further details regarding his investment plans in Telangana and the offers made to him by that State.

On the aspect of offers, he said Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, called him inviting him to meet Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

On whether he was open to discussions with the Kerala government, he said he was always open to talks with them. "Even if they had sent a clerk or a peon, I would have been open to talks. I am still open to talks with them. However, my conscience at the moment does not permit me to invest even a rupee in Kerala ever again," he said.