Industrialists and corporate honchos in India’s tech capital are taking sides in the battle for the most prestigious constituency in Bangalore, lining up behind high profile rival candidates to set up what promises to be one of the most fascinating contests of the upcoming general election.
On Monday, BJP’s H N Ananth Kumar won a ringing endorsement from businessman Rajeev Chandrasekhar even as independent rival and aviation entrepreneur G R Gopinath launched his campaign website surrounded by some of the best-known faces in corporate India.
Ananth Kumar, who won the backing of Chandrasekhar on the day he filed his nomination papers from the Bangalore South seat, is bidding to win from the constituency for the fifth time in a row. Gopinath, on the other hand, is making a return to electoral politics after a 15-year hiatus — he lost an assembly election as a BJP candidate in 1994. The founder of the low-cost carrier Air Deccan, demonstrated his popularity with Bangalore’s elite by getting his election website — www.votecaptaingopi.com — launched by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder of biotech firm Biocon, Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai and fashion designer Prasad Bidapa.
Also lining up by his side were Pradeep Kar, the founder of tech firm Microland, Ramesh Ramanathan of Janaagraha, an NGO focussed on urban issues as well as brand consultant Harish Bijoor. Gopinath has cited the attack on a pub in Mangalore as well as assaults on women wearing western clothes as the main trigger for his re-entry into politics.
Chandrasekhar, who founded the BPL Mobile cellphone service, was unstinting in his praise of Ananth Kumar, describing him in a statement as “a man of clear values, principles and high integrity.” “In the recent pub attack incidents, he was one of the few politicians who condemned the attack on women immediately and encouraged strong government action against those who violate the law,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
1 comments:
I fully endorse Rajeev Chandrasekhar. If there is a person in the political arena who is truly a representative of Bangalore's outlook, it is Ananth Kumar.
Married to an IT professional, was the first MP to launch his own website in 1996 and has always strongly represented the cause of the IT & BPO industry.
The NGO run by his family members also feeds more than a lakh poor Government school children EVERYDAY!
Even his political opponents like S M Krishna have praised him for taking up Karnataka issues such as the Cauvery Waters dispute
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