IT captains hail Nilekani, Bala's foray into politics

Say it will strengthen democracy

As IT poster boys Nandan Nilekani and V Balakrishnan face electoral test next week, captains of their industry have hailed their plunge into the murky waters of politics, saying it will strengthen democracy.

While Nilekani, a co-founder and former CEO of Infosys, is in the poll fray from Bangalore South on Congress ticket, he is pitted against five-time and sitting BJP MP Ananth Kumar and AAP Nina Nayak, among others. Balakrishnan, a former Infosys Board member, is fighting on AAP ticket against BJP’s sitting MP P C Mohan and Congress’ youth wing chief Rizwan Arshad from Bangalore Central. Polling in both constituencies is scheduled on April 17.

“Excellent, I’m really happy that engineers and others are participating in the initiative to strengthen our democracy,” Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy said.

The co-founder of India’s second largest software services exporter stressed that there is a need to work ethically and honestly with the state and central governments to make public governance strong, robust and enduring.

iGate President and CEO Ashok Vemuri said: “I think especially for India there is a need for competent professionals who have a proven track record to enter into public space.”

Vemuri, who before joining the US-based outsourcing firm last September was Infosys’s head of North America, added that it is not a new trend in any part of the world for successful people to get into public life.

“I actually salute the two of them (Nilekani and Balakrishnan) and that they are willing to translate their professionalism, their competencies, their desires to help people into something as constructive as what they are doing,” he said.