Ananth, Nilekani harp on visibility factor ahead of polls

Bangalore South appears to be turning into a keenly watched constituency ahead of the Lok Sabha polls with prospective candidates (H N Ananth Kumar of the BJP and Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India who plans to contest from the Congress) intensifying their social activities in the last few days.

Five-time MP Kumar has been attending social events and the party’s political functions in Bangalore almost every day. On Saturday, he inaugurated the State executive meeting of the BJP’s small, medium and large industries cell in the morning and later participated in a torchlight procession from South End Circle, Jayanagar to Basavanagudi, which comes under his constituency, as part of the Vivekananda Jayanti celebrations.

Speaking at the BJP function, Kumar said the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls would be issue-based and his party would emerge victorious from more than 20 segments in the State. He said AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi does not have the calibre to lead the nation. Earlier this week, Kumar attended several BJP programmes in Bangalore and also participated in a protest against the steep hike in prices of non-subsidised LPG and auto gas.

Kumar has also been attending programmes of Adamya Chetana, an NGO run by his wife, more frequently than earlier. Interestingly, his office which was not in the habit of sending press notes or communique about his programmes is promptly mailing the releases to the press. 

On his part, Nilekani, who went on record on Friday that he is keen to contest from Bangalore South on a Congress ticket, will be launching an voter awareness drive in Koramangala on Sunday morning by flagging of a cycle rally. On Friday, he attended an interaction programme with students at Christ University in Bangalore. It looked as though he strategically chose Thursday, a day prior to the Rahul Gandhi event in the capital, to hit the headlines in the media by interacting with college students. A PR agency has been hired by Nilekani to reach out to the media.