Is this called fishing in troubled waters? Or is it about making hay while the sun shines? Soon after the Jindal group decided to pull out the Rs 100-crore grant to Bangalore University to build the Bangalore School of Economics, other educational institutions are coming forward, offering to install the school under their umbrella.

Rani Channamma University, Belgaum, is the latest one to approach the industrialist with the offer. The vice-chancellor has written to the Jindal group, asking for help to set up infrastructure for the school. "We already have a school of language, applied science, mathematics, classical Kannada and business and economics. The regulations are already in place. Now, we are getting the infrastructure ready. We've been seeking industry support. Since the Jindal group had shown interest in donating to education, we wanted to inform them about our interest. North Karnataka is a backward area and needs promotion," said B R Ananthan, vice-chancellor.

"We had considered many educational institutions who had shown interest and approached us when we decided to give grants to educational institutions. This included IIIT-B, National Law School of India University and Mangalore University, apart from Bangalore University. And finally, we zeroed down on BU," informed a Jindal spokesperson.

Mangalore University had written last month to the Jindal group, informing them that they've got approval from the government of India for income-tax exemption. "Jindal group had asked about IT exemption and it took us some time to get it. As soon as we got it, we informed them about establishing a business management or technology institute in the name of Jindal Aluminium," said T C Shivashankara Murthy, V-C, MU.