V Balakrishnan is the ex-board member of Infosys Limited who is also the Chairman of Exfinity Fund. He is the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate from the Bangalore Central constituency.
Mr Balakrishnan is actively involved in the party's activities in Karnataka as well as drafting AAP's economic policy.The current political system based on money power, muscle power and caste equations has made politics less interesting to the educated middle class in the country. The politicians, through their behavior and conduct, have reduced politics to a last option for the urban educated middle class.
I joined AAP because I like their core principles based on their agenda on three Cs - Corruption, Crony capitalism and Clean governance. Corruption is the biggest issue faced by the nation today and it is an indirect tax on the people and the corporate. We need systemic solutions to solve this big problem.
AAP stands for compassionate capitalism and is against crony capitalism. We need open, transparent policies in the country coupled with effective implementation. We need equitable growth in the economy. We need the private sector to participate in a big way to create jobs and grow the economy. All these are possible only with clean and honest governance, which is the starting point.
My initial thought was to be a member and help AAP in whatever way I could both on the policy front as well as building the local unit in Karnataka. Fighting an election was not on my mind when I joined the party. However, things changed rapidly in the last one month. My interactions with many people across the spectrum of the society only increased my conviction to fight the elections.
There is a silent revolution happening in the country where people are looking for an alternative to the current political system. They all want clean and honest governance and definitely feel that AAP could be that alternative.
After a very careful thought, I decided to fight the elections on an AAP ticket from Bangalore Central constituency. Bangalore has the reputation of having a healthy interaction between the government and the private sector on various civic issues. The natural progression is for some of us from the corporate sector to take the plunge and be part of the political system to create the change in a more effective manner.
My ex-colleague from Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, will be fighting on a Congress ticket from Bangalore South. The beauty of democracy is that people from the same eco-system to pursue different ideologies, which they strongly believe in, but still maintain mutual respect for each other.
Nandan has a good pedigree and comes with lots of experience in the corporate world. While my full support is with the AAP candidate from Bangalore South, Nandan will also have my best wishes as an ex-colleague.
This election is not about politics of cynicism, but politics of hope. AAP is not just about creating hope for millions of Indians. It is about pursuing an audacity of hope for millions of Indians.
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