FILE photo: Nandan Nilekani
It isn't official yet, but the Congress is believed to be seriously considering fielding Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani as its candidate for Bangalore South in next year's Lok Sabha elections. The buzz has been in the air for some months now, but Mr Nilekani himself has neither confirmed nor denied his interest in getting into active politics.
Currently the Chairperson of the government's massive Aadhar project, which gives a unique identification card to every Indian, the 58-year-old Mr Nilekani became known nationally as the software czar who co-founded IT giant, Infosys.
Bangalore South could be considered an elite constituency. It is largely urban and relatively prosperous with a large proportion of middle-class voters. It is currently represented by the BJP's Ananth Kumar. At a recent Congress meeting to finalise candidates well ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, it is believed that Mr Nilekani was shortlisted for this seat along with IIM professor Rajiv Gowda and another educated, young Congress politician, Krishna Byre Gowda, who is currently serving as a minister in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's cabinet. All these candidates are educated professionals; clearly the Congress believes that this is what would appeal to the electorate here. The final candidate list could be announced as early as January.
NDTV spoke to ordinary voters in the constituency about the possibility of Mr Nilekani contesting for elections. There were some who thought he would make a great candidate. Others felt he would not be able to fit into the current political system, and more than one person we spoke to cited the example of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, they said, was appreciated for his role more as an economist than as an active politician. And of course, there were some, like an autorickshaw driver, who really did not know who Mr Nilekani was.
If Mr Nilekani is, indeed, interested in getting into politics and is chosen as the candidate for Bangalore South, it would certainly make it one of the more closely-watched contests in the entire country.