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Should BJP reconsider Ananth Kumar's candidature against Nilekani?

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ananth kumar and nandan nilekani
Bangalore, Feb 26: All political parties of the country have begun releasing their candidate lists for each Parliamentarian constituency as the much awaited Lok Sabha election is knocking at the door. Bangalore South in Karnataka is considered as one of the most important constituencies among them. Now, with the election at the door, it seems that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might have to reconsider its decision over choosing candidate for South Bangalore as questions raised over Ananth Kumar's possibility to fight against congress's possible candidate Nandan Nilekani.

Ananth Kumar, the fight-time sitting MP from the constituency, is expected to get tickets once again for the upcoming general election. But questions over Ananth Kumar's candidature have been raised ever since reports surfaced that IT czar Nandan Nilekani might contest against him.

Ananth Kumar's Report card in Bangalore South since 1999:

In 2009, Ananth Kumar won Bangalore South narrowly by a margin of 4.1 per cent, i.e. 37,000 votes. If the 2013 Karnataka assembly results were to be added up for the Bangalore South constituency then the BJP would have lost to the Congress by 5.7 per cent margin, i.e. 56,000 votes.

It has been observed that Kumar's vote-share has decreased over the years. The BJP general Secretary's vote share in the 1999 polls was 53 per cent which came down to 48.2 per cent in 2009. Despite Ananth Kumar's performance going down the years, many volunteers are there who are willing to work for the constituency -- Bangalore South.

Can Ananth Kumar withstand the challenge from Nilekani this time?

Nilekani, co-founder of the IT giant Infosys and the man behind UPA's dream project Aadhar, has already begun his battle in order to woo the voters of the constituency. Using the advantage of the technology, Nilekani has soaked every website with online Ads. Targeting the young voters of the constituency, he has been holding special meetings with students at different colleges and other institutions.

The IT people have become another important target as it is believed that the IT crowd can connect with someone like Nilekani more than one politician like Ananth Kumar. Organising a few sports tournaments, or redesigning his website may not work for the BJP leader this time.

Ananth Kumar should show his strength beside promoting Narendra Modi:

Citing the BJP leader's recent activities, it seems that Kumar is busy in promoting BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi. The BJP leader has tried to make use of the name of Narendra Modi, the party's face for the next Lok Sabha polls, to reach out to the youth. Kumar had organised an inter-collegiate cricket tournament in Jayanagar in Bangalore and the tournament was named as Ananth-Modi Trophy.

While the IT man can directly connect himself with a young audience, politicians like Ananth Kumar has to seek a 'support' of pro-youth leader like Narendra Modi to promote himself.

Questions over Ananth Kumar:

The BJP leader has been facing criticism ever since his photo sharing the frame with Nilekani appeared on the latter's Twitter profile. Many people raised questions regarding Kumar's candidature against Nilekani who is yet to be declared as Congress candidate for the Bangalore South constituency. Micro-blogging site Twitter has been flooded with tweets criticising Kumar.

Citing the criticism, it seems that BJP might have to reconsider its decision of fielding Kumar against Nilekani if the party wants to win Bangalore South which is believed to be a stronghold of the party.

OneIndia News

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