JOIN US Lack of fluency in Kannada did not deter the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate for Bangalore Central, V Balakrishna, from reaching out to voters at his first public meeting, in Puliyar Koil Street in Ashoknagar here on Friday.
The former Chief Finance Officer of IT major Infosys, who quit his lucrative job to joint the fledgling political party, launched his election campaign as a ‘nukka natak’ (street play). The crowd consisted mostly of the AAP workers besides a handful of curious onlookers.
Balakrishna spoke in a mixed language — switching between Kannada, Tamil and English — but succeeded in getting his message across: that India has had enough corruption and there is a dire need to bring about a drastic change in government.
“It’s a very sad state of affairs that the youth in Bangalore are not getting jobs, which is why crime has shot up,” Balakrishna said. “We have to create jobs. But to open an enterprise, one will have to first set aside at least 25-30 per cent of the total capital as corruption fund. Corruption pushes the production cost up. But if this scourge is contained, the cost of production will come down, leading to growth and creating jobs.”
The AAP leader reminded the gathering that scores of suggestions to improve roads, footpaths and garbage collection in the City had been sent to the authorities concerned but not one was implemented because “these ideas would not generate any dirty money.”
“The asphalted roads and public works you see ahead of an election are just an eyewash, which you need to understand. This City can be run well if the greed is removed of the powers that be,” he added.
Balakrishna’s maiden public campaign evoked good response from the electronic media.
During an interview, repeated the popular statement of party leader Arvind Kejriwal that “it is the people who are fighting this election under the banner of the AAP.”