BackAAP is not tainted by corruption scandals: V. Balakrishnan
Balakrishnan says AAP's clear anti-corruption agenda will appeal to urban voters
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Bangalore: In his first public rally after being announced as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Bangalore Central, former Infosys Ltd. finance chief V. Balakrishnan reiterated the party’s anti-corruption stance and said that it had a good chance of winning from key constituencies in Bangalore.
Addressing a sparse crowd of about 100 bystanders in a Bangalore Central locality, Balakrishnan said his party’s clear anti-corruption agenda would appeal to urban voters and that it was not tainted by corruption scandals, unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
“I personally thought that instead of sitting outside, I should join the system and try and remove corruption. That’s what I intend to do," said the 48-year-old, who left Infosys in December last year after spending two decades at the company. “I think this party can really bring about change."
Balakrishnan also called for more transparency in policy-making and said that more needs to be done to empower the country’s judicial system.
“Corruption can be removed only by having good, open, transparent policies, implement the policies openly and if somebody doesn’t follow the rules, punish them quickly because today there are 3.2 crore cases pending with the courts, it takes years to clear all those cases. You have to invest in government systems and in courts," said Balakrishnan, who occasionally lapsed into English, Tamil and Kannada during his speech.
“I read somewhere on the internet. 1947 calendar and 2014 calendar, the dates are almost similar. What does that mean? In 1947, India got independence. (In) 2014, India will get independence from corruption," added Balakrishnan.
Earlier on Friday, Congress’s candidate from Bangalore South Nandan Nilekani said that he would look to fund his own campaign and not take contributions from external sources.
He also said that the AAP would not be a significant threat in the Lok Sabha elections and it was a party with “agitational DNA".
“I’m confident of winning from Bangalore south, I’m also sure that AAP is not a factor in Bangalore south..," Nilekani told reporters.
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