File picture of V Balakrishnan.
Bangalore:
In a sharp departure from the patterns that have marked this election so far, V Balakrishnan, a candidate from the Aam Aadmi Party is wishing rival Nandan Nilekani a lot of good luck.
Both men worked together at software giant Infosys. So when Mr Balakrishnan, 48, decided to run for parliament from Bangalore, he laid out some ground rules for his party. "From the beginning, I am very clear that I won't fight against him."
Mr Balarkrishnan is running from Bangalore Central. Mr Nilekani is the Congress candidate from Bangalore South. When asked if he would like to see Mr Nilekani succeed even at the cost of the AAP candidate pitted against him, the former Chief Financial Officer of Infosys was sure of the bottomline, "Of course! He was my ex-colleague!"
Mr Nilekani takes on BJP veteran Ananth Kumar who has won Bangalore South an impressive five times in a row. The Aam Aadmi party candidate is Nina Nayak who headed the Karnataka government's Commission for Protection of Child Rights. In Bangalore Central, Mr Balakrishnan faces the sitting MP from the BJP, PC Mohan.
This weekend, Mr Balakrishnan is holding a fund-raising dinner which will be attended by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Attendance costs Rs 20,000 a head, a price point that has generated criticism given that AAP stands for the common man and claims to eschew the five-star culture it has attributed to more traditional parties like the Congress and BJP.
"If you look at why corruption happens in this country, it all starts with how do you raise money for political parties to fight elections. 75 per cent of the money, raised in the last many years by mainstream political parties, comes from unknown sources. We want to create a mechanism where we can raise money in a more transparent manner and fight elections in an honest way," said Mr Balakrishnan, justifying the dinner.
Both men worked together at software giant Infosys. So when Mr Balakrishnan, 48, decided to run for parliament from Bangalore, he laid out some ground rules for his party. "From the beginning, I am very clear that I won't fight against him."
Mr Balarkrishnan is running from Bangalore Central. Mr Nilekani is the Congress candidate from Bangalore South. When asked if he would like to see Mr Nilekani succeed even at the cost of the AAP candidate pitted against him, the former Chief Financial Officer of Infosys was sure of the bottomline, "Of course! He was my ex-colleague!"
Mr Nilekani takes on BJP veteran Ananth Kumar who has won Bangalore South an impressive five times in a row. The Aam Aadmi party candidate is Nina Nayak who headed the Karnataka government's Commission for Protection of Child Rights. In Bangalore Central, Mr Balakrishnan faces the sitting MP from the BJP, PC Mohan.
This weekend, Mr Balakrishnan is holding a fund-raising dinner which will be attended by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Attendance costs Rs 20,000 a head, a price point that has generated criticism given that AAP stands for the common man and claims to eschew the five-star culture it has attributed to more traditional parties like the Congress and BJP.
"If you look at why corruption happens in this country, it all starts with how do you raise money for political parties to fight elections. 75 per cent of the money, raised in the last many years by mainstream political parties, comes from unknown sources. We want to create a mechanism where we can raise money in a more transparent manner and fight elections in an honest way," said Mr Balakrishnan, justifying the dinner.
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