Infosys co-founder and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman Nandan Nilekani, who is planning to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Congress in Bangalore South Constituency, on Monday toured the constituency and met legislators and several party leaders seeking their support for his candidature.
Party leaders told The Hindu that Mr. Nilekani held meetings with Congress leaders, including Minister for Transport R. Ramalinga Reddy, MLAs R.V. Devaraj, M. Krishnappa and Priya Krishna, and sought their support for his candidature.
He reportedly discussed the strategy to be adopted to counter the BJP’s five-time MP and national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar in the constituency.
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In a move to end the debate on the issue of “insider-outsider”, Mr. Nilekani also met presidents of various blocks in the constituency and explained his desire to contest the elections.
Of the eight Assembly segments under Bangalore South parliamentary constituency, four are held by the Congress. Besides, there are more than 15 block units. These block units play a crucial role in the elections.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s OBC wing president M.V. Venugopal said that Mr. Nilekani met him and discussed various local issues. “All four MLAs of the party welcomed the technocrat and appreciated his intentions to join politics. Mr. Nilekani will give a good fight to Mr. Ananth Kumar,” Mr. Venugopal said.
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Mr. Ananth Kumar has said that the elections would not a battle of personalities but will be fought on issues such as corruption, inflation and price rise. Anyone contesting from the Congress should make his stand clear on corruption, bad governance, inflation, price rice and security issues, the BJP MP has said.
Mr. Ananth Kumar defeated Krishna Byre Gowda of the Congress in the 2009 elections.