Techie vs Leggie? Kumble may take on Nilekani in South Bangalore seat

Bangalore, Sept 18: Former IT czar and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

could contest next year's Lok Sabha election from the prestigious Bangalore South seat on the

's ticket. Nilekani played a key role to the Congress's innovative direct benefit transfer scheme.

According to sources, the Congress is aiming to tap the 'techie vote-bank' by roping in Nilekani, an extremely popular figure in the IT community.

This is not all. Sources in the BJP indicated at fielding former Indian test captain Anil Kumble against Nilekani. The sitting MP and one of the top party leaders from this part, Ananth Kumar, could be shifted to his hometown seat Hubli. Kumar is a five-time MP from Bangalore South. Kumar's supporters, however, denied the news.

Sitting MP Ananth Kumar may be shifted to Hubli. His supporters denied it

The RSS, which is busy giving the final touches to the list of 20 probables for the polls to be examined by chief of the party's poll campaign committee Narendra Modi, is trying to get Kumble on board so that the party can aim for at least 18-20 seats from the state. Karnataka sends 28 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Kumble is the vice-chairman of Karnataka Wildlife Board and the current chief of the state cricket association and is also a very popular man. He holds the record of the most number of test wickets taken by any Indian bowler. He is a mechanical engineer. There were talks to field him during the 2009 parliamentary elections as well, it is learnt.

However, neither Nilekani nor Kumble were available for their comments.

OneIndia News