People from diversified fields should enter politics, Bala

Former Infosys Board Member and Aam Admi Party candidate from Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency V Balakrishnan today said people from diversified fields like him getting into politics was a "good sign".
"...If people from diversified grounds, if they want to get into politics and want to change the current system, I think it is good....." Balakrishnan told reporters here.
"People from diverse fields have to come into politics, unless they come, the system won't change because people within the system want things as it is...." he added.
AAP's list of candidates for Karnataka announced in Delhi yesterday includes personalities from diverse fields like academics, farmer, former bureaucrats and policemen, corporate, technocrat, and also Dalit activists.

Aiming big, AAP has announced its decision to contest all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka where the battle is clearly between ruling Congress and BJP which also faces a tough fight from JD(S) in its strongholds in the Gowda belt.
Balakrishnan, who quit Infosys on December 31 and joined AAP the next day, is fielded against incumbent P C Mohan of BJP. Congress is yet to announce its candidate.

On having to face seasoned politicians in the electoral battle, he said "I think people like us with no political background, with no legacy issues, with fresh thinking- if we come, the acceptance will be very high because you don't have to defend your legacy...."

Advocating clean and good governance, Balakrishnan said "....We should have clean and transparent way of implementing economic policies...."
Stating that Delhi assembly elections is what that attracted him towards AAP, he said "I think I joined the party the moment I resigned from Infosys, Delhi elections was a turning point because the Delhi electorate clearly understood the idea and supported AAP overwhelmingly...."
With Balakrishnan being named as a candidate for the April 17 polls, the city is witnessing two top ex-Infosion's taking the plunge into electoral fray from the IT capital, other being Infosys Co-Founder and UIDAI Chief Nandan Nilekani from Bangalore South constituency on a Congress ticket.

Balakrishnan, who joined Infosys in 1991 and later became its Chief Financial Officer, was said to be a top contender to the post of the chief executive officer when he quit.