The Congress party is likely to field Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency for the ensuing general elections.
Nilekani on 3 March announced that he is very keen to contest the election from Congress, if he is given ticket by the party. In that case, the former union minister and BJP's sitting Member of Parliament (MP) HN Anantha Kumar will face a tough battle in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Kumar has been the MP since 1996 without a break.
Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, has already started his campaign, advocating that he will work as Bangalore's real ambassador in the Parliament. "Politics needs people, who are clean, local and competent. People want someone with clean face, I will provide that. I know the nitty-gritty of urban governance," IBN Live quoted him. Nilekani has stated that he will fight for the Bangalore's cause.
The 58-year-old had recently stated that he will resign by this March end from the UIDAI Chairman's post, a cabinet minister-rank position in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
Nilekani said that Congress will announce the candidature at an appropriate time. He claimed that he is reaching out to voters and has been getting a good response from them. Bangalore South has a considerable literate population, including IT professionals.
Nilekani says Bangalore has many issues to address, like water supply and education.
According to him, so far only 58.7 crore Aadhar numbers have been issued in the country and, by 2015, 90 crore Aadhar numbers are to be issued. Nilekani was the Infosys CEO from March 2002 to April 2007. At the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he took the job of UIDAI Chairman in 2009.
As per the Wikipedia, Nilekani is a member of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the president of NCAER, the independent applied economics research institute of India. He also sits on several advisory boards, including those of the World Economic Forum Foundation and the Bombay Heritage Fund.
