Nandan Nilekani to formally join Congress; ready to contest Lok Sabha polls

Bangalore, Jan 10: Ending speculation about his foray into politics, billionaire Infosys co-founder and head of Aadhar programme Nandan Nilekani today said he would join the Congress and was ready to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

"Certainly. I believe I should do something on the political front. If Congress gives me a ticket, I will contest (the Lok Sabha elections this year)," he told reporters, making public his stand on the issue for the first time.

58-year-old Nilekani, who is the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, said talks are going on about the constituency from which he should be contesting. He added that he would join Congress, which has been very "supportive" to him and his ideas.

The Congress is likely to field Nilekani from Bangalore South, a middle-class centric constituency, known for its antipathy towards Congress since the late 1970s, from where BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar has won five times.

Nilekani said ordinary citizens should join politics and he would like to be part of this movement. "In India the biggest change can be brought about through politics and I want to be there," he said.

The country needs more good people from all fields including the corporate world, he said, adding politics is an instrument of change.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

BJP fields Kishore Kumar Puttur from DK-Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency

News Network

October 1,2024

The BJP has selected Kishore Kumar Puttur as its candidate for the bypoll to Karnataka Legislative Council from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency. The by-election will be held on October 21.

Kishore Kumar is presently serving as the General Secretary of Dakshina Kannada BJP unit. He had served as vice president of State BJP Yuva Morcha from 2014 to 2016.

The by-election will be held to the seat vacated by Kota Srinivas Poojary of the BJP who has been elected as the Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagaluru Lok Sabha constituency. The vacancy was created on June 15, 2024 following Poojary’s resignation to the Council. His term in the council was till January, 2028.

In the last Council election held for the dual member constituency in December 2021, Poojary had secured 3,672 votes while the Congress candidate Manjunath Bhandary had secured 2079 votes. Poojary and Bhandary had secured required votes from the first preferential votes and had won the election.

There were several aspirants for the BJP ticket including former MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, DK BJP president Satish Kumpala, Mangaluru divisional in-charge Uday Kumar Shetty, former minister Pramod Madhwaraj and former Udupi district BJP president Kuilady Suresh Nayak.

The Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the election. KPCC working president Manjunath Bhandary in a recent press meet in Mangaluru had said that an opportunity will be given to congress leaders from Udupi district to contest by-election.

The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency has 6037 voters including 3551 from Dakshina Kannada comprising eight MLAs, one MP. The last date for filing nomination is October 3 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is October 7. The counting will be held on October 24.

Comments