Formula E Race: Hyderabad has biggest day since Clinton visit

HYDERABAD: With the first-ever Formula E race in India, and also the first on a street circuit, Hyderabad enjoyed its biggest week in the international space since the visit of US President Bill Clinton in March 2000.

N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister at that time, used Clinton's visit, the first ever by a US President to Hyderabad, to pitchfork the city as a global IT destination. Some of the biggest names in the tech world followed Clinton and set up base here.

Now, with a slew of IT giants calling Hyderabad home, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, who played a pro-active role in bringing the Formula E event to Hyderabad, has clearly placed the city front and centre on the electric mobility field globally besides giving the industry a fillip nationally.

The Formula E race was the topic of enthusiastic discussion in the Assembly lobbies, with ministers and BRS MLAs heaping praise on Rama Rao for his unstinted efforts in bringing the event to Hyderabad. Right from Day 1, it was Rama Rao who handled the event with his team of senior IAS officials comprising Arvind Kumar and Jayesh Ranjan.

It did not escape attention that the legislators named Rama Rao as the one who brought the event to the city and not Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who has never spoken about it and did not go to the venue on Saturday.

Comparisons could be drawn with how then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy treated the visit of US President George Bush visited Hyderabad in 2006. Dr Reddy kept the visit, which came in the midst of the Iraq War, a low profile event due to local political sensitivities. Dr Reddy received Bush as per protocol, visited the Agriculture University along with him and was present at the send-off.
A far cry from Naidu who a few years before him had taken the opportunity to stage with Clinton on every possible occasion.

The politics of it apart, Hyderabad now look to reap the harvest after working hard to host India's first ever Formula E event.