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Journalism of Courage
Entry of technocrats and industry torchbearers like Nandan Nilekani and V Balakrishnan into Indian politics was touted as a game changer but all of them tasted defeat at the hustings, swept away by the Modi wave.
Former Infosys executives Nilekani and Balakrishnan fought their maiden elections for different parties from the city which houses their former company’s headquarters.
Nilekani, who was the richest candidate in fray for the 16th Lok Sabha, fought on Congress ticket from Bangalore South while Balakrishnan joined the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Banker Meera Sanyal, who had unsuccessfully fought the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as an independent, entered the fray this year on AAP ticket from South Mumbai constituency. She finished fourth behind Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, Milind Deora of Congress and Bala Nandgaonkar of MNS.
In 2009, she had lost to Deora.
As the Modi juggernaut rolled, Nilekani lost to former Union Minister and BJP candidate Ananth Kumar.
From Bangalore Central constituency and former Infosys board member Balakrishnan finished a poor third behind BJP’s P C Mohan and Congress’ Rizwan Arshad.
Interestingly, both men conceded defeat even before the poll results were officially announced.
“I concede defeat and congratulate Ananth Kumar for his performance in this poll. I will continue to work more for the city and the Congress party,” Nilekani told PTI.
Asked when what went wrong for him, he said he was happy with the campaign he ran and the way his supporters and Congress leaders work along with him on the campaign.
“We have done our best and I remain happy with my decision to stand for election,” he said.
Bala too said AAP had run an honest campaign and it was the people’s decision, who voted for stability at the centre
“I will help them with upcoming Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, we are preparing Mission 2015 for that; there is one more year, will try to strengthen the party further by then,” said Bala, as he is popularly known.
BJP is trending for a clean sweep of the 16th Lok Sabha elections, credited largely to Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Asked if there was indeed a Modi wave in the country, Bala said the turn of events was rather like a “Modi tsunami”.
“Looking at this result, I feel it is not just Modi wave, it is Modi tsunami. It is anti-Congress wave and BJP has been able to market brand Modi very well,” he further said.
Nilekani said it is for the people to decide, who they vote for.
However, political aspirations of the two are far from over. Both Nilekani and Bala plan to continue working with their parties to strengthen them.
Nilekani has stated that he will continue to work more for the city and the Congress party.
In a post on social networking site Facebook, he said regardless of the result, his campaign delivered a powerful message.
“The demand for a better city has been heard. Thousands of you reached out to us with your ideas for Bengaluru… My agenda in the coming years include the priorities that you shared with me,” he said.
“I promise you today that I will work with every party and with every level of government to get the change we need,” Nilekani added. P
