Nandan Nilekani joins Congress; to contest from Bangalore South

Bangalore: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani joined the Congress on Sunday, a day after he was declared the party’s candidate for Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat.

Nilekani, the face of “Aadhaar” programme, was formally inducted into the Congress with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G. Parameshwara handing over the party flag to him before he filled in the membership form at a function at the party office here.

“I think I bring some unique experience to the people,” he said. “Three major things I was part of—first, from scratch I was co-founder of one of India’s largest companies (Infosys), so I know how to create jobs and I have created lakhs of them. Number two, from scratch from idea I was part of ID programme which gave 60 crore people identity. Third, 1999 to 2004 I was chairman of BATF (Bangalore Agenda Task Force) where I got an opportunity to go into the nitty-gritty of local governance.”

“I know every detail of how a city functions, so the fact that I have diverse experience, I’m a clean and local candidate. Therefore people should vote for me,” he said.

On his political debut, 58-year-old Nilekani will be taking on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ananth Kumar, who has remained unchallenged in Bangalore South, winning the seat five times.

Weeks before his formal entry into Congress, Nilekani has begun his campaign, coming to grips with ground realities as he faces a daunting task with the polls just less than six weeks as the election in Karnataka is slated for 17 April. Rules stipulate that ticket seekers should serve in the party for three years but it has apparently been relaxed in the case of Nilekani, who is said to be close to the Gandhi family. PTI