V Balakrishnan, the former Infosys honcho and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contestant from the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, will campaign for the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who is contesting from Varanasi.
“I am definitely going to Varanasi to campaign for Arvind though dates are yet to be finalised,” Balakrishnan said on Saturday, while unwinding after Thursday polling in 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka and a month-long hectic electioneering in this tech hub.
Kejriwal decided to enter the fray after the opposition BJP announced March 16 that its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would contest from Varanasi. The polling is on May 12.
Modi is also contesting from Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat, where election is due April 30.
“I will also be campaigning for our party in some constituencies where elections are due in the next three weeks,” Balakrishnan said.
The financial wizard, who joined the fledgling party January 1 after quitting the IT bellwether Dec 31, will also meet coordinators in the assembly segments of his constituency to put in place a structure for greater use of IT and to interface with people.
“It is important to have robust structure in place to address people’s issues or problems and find effective solutions in a time-bounder manner,” Balakrishnan asserted.
On second lowest voting (55.70%) in his constituency, the AAP nominee said the turnout reflected less use of money power compared to 2009 general elections.
“I believe more educated and middle class people have exercised their votes this time. My chance of winning is very high,” Balakrishnan claimed.
AAP is pitted against outgoing BJP lawmaker P.C. Mohan, Rizwan Arshad of Congress and danseuse Nandini Alva of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and 30 other candidates, including independents.
Incidentally, Balakrishnan’s former boss and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani contested on Congress ticket from the adjacent high-profile Bangalore South parliamentary seat, where voting was the lowest in the state at 55.69% though 10% higher than the 44.74% polled in 2009 elections.
Nilekani, however, plans to stay put in the city and thank the people, colleagues and party’s leaders and cadres for their extensive support in his poll campaign.————–IANS
What Could Arvind Do ?
After 49 days in office , Arvind Kejriwal resigned as CM of Delhi
Some people say , he is a ” Bhagoda ” ( an absconder ), who ran away from his responsibility to people of Delhi
Now , if you were AK , what would you have done , if you were faced with the following situation ?
> You have promised to people of Delhi , to root-out corruption
> To this end , you have promised to pass Jan Lok Pal Bill
> Business Rules of Central Government say , Delhi Government CANNOT
introduce any bill which has financial implication / burden , without first
seeking OK from the Lieutenant Governor ( LG ) to introduce the bill
> Business Rules are ” Un-Constitutional ” , as per eminent jurists
> But Congress Government at Centre , was NOT willing to drop these
rules , despite a written request from Delhi Government
> LG had no power to give a go-bye to the rules . His only option was to
reject the introduction of the bill , if it was referred to him
> Knowing this too well , Congress / BJP ganged up and insisted that
AK must , first refer the bill to LG and introduce it in Assembly , only if
approved by LG
Did Arvind have any option other than to resign ?
Now suppose , he throws up his hands and tells people of Delhi ,
” What can I do ?
I tried my best but BJP / Congress would not let me introduce the bill ,
citing some un-constitutional rules
Jan Lok Pal Bill must wait till ,
* AAP comes to power at the Centre and drops those Business Rules
( I admit , this is a most unlikely scenario ! )
* AAP government at Centre grants full Statehood to Delhi
So , I have decided to forget the whole matter and continue as CM ”
Those very same people would have said ,
” What business you have to continue as CM , if you cannot fulfill your
promises ?
You are no different than those power-hungry politicians of BJP / Congress
If you have any shame left , you must resign immediately ”
DEAR ARVIND ,
Kuchh to log Kahenge
Logo ka kaam hain kahena
Chhodo ye bekaar ki baante
Kahin bit naa jaye rainaa ( – I mean , Mat-Ganana ! )
* hemen parekh ( 22 April 2014 / Mumbai )