3 Chennai entrepreneurs in poll fray

Tamil Nadu`s election campaigns may be replete with one-upmanship over the Lankan issue. But away from the political rhetoric, there are fresh ideas of development and employment, courtesy 3 entrepreneurs from Chennai. They`ve decided to take the political plunge and are pitted against heavyweights.

K Pandiarajan, an entrepreneur, means business in Tamil Nadu`s electoral battleground. Pandiarajan, who heads a HR consultancy company with 122 offices around the world, has opened his political innings, courtesy Captain Vijaykanth. He`s fighting the high-profile Vaiko in Virudhnagar on a DMDK ticket. So while the pro LTTE MDMK Chief is harping on the Lankan factor, this XLRI graduate is talking of development.

"As an entrepreneur I have 52,000 employees. In politics, the key aspect of my campaign will be 1 family, 1 job," he says.

In south Chennai, there`s another entrepreneur. Thiry-year-old E Sarath Babu, an IIM -Ahmedabad graduate and CEO of a 7 crore turnover catering company, has roped in students to canvass and even fund his campaign.

When asked if management synonymous with politics, he says: "Yes. Politics is about campaigning. Campaigning is about marketing, about presenting your credentials, ideology, vision to the people."

With power cuts a huge issue in Tamil Nadu, Maya Ramachandran, a  32-year-old head of a diesel genset company, says she knows how to embarrass DMK veteran T R Baalu in Sriperumbudur. Maya Ramachandran is using her studies in clinical psychology to reach out to young voters.

"Everyone is tired of corrupt politics. I want to involve young, educated people in decision making," she says.

Will the business acumen of this trio work against political heavyweights?