LS polls 2014: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Nandan Nilekani trade charges

BANGALORE: Two days after Bangalore South Congress candidate and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani filed a complaint with the Election Commission accusing the media controlled by businessman Rajeev Chandrasekhar of carrying out "false propaganda" targeting him, the latter has come out in the open supporting BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

"The challenges from economy to governance to security are many. We, as a nation, find ourselves in trying times. Modi is best suited to lead India at this stage," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also an independent Rajya Sabha member, told ET.

The entrepreneur is known for his scathing views on the Aadhaar programme spearheaded by his fellow Bangalorean Nilekani.

"After the Supreme Court decision and thousands of crores spent, it is now officially a solution that is looking for a problem. No one knows what to do with it," he said.

Nilekani, who is fighting BJP candidate Ananth Kumar, filed a complaint with the Election Commission on Monday specifically naming the Kannada newspaper and the TV channel controlled by Chandrasekhar of indulging in a "malicious misinformation campaign" , and urged the Commission to "take serious view of the lies and untruths being perpetuated".

"The reports and comments have to be viewed in the contest of the elections,” he said.

The media, Nilekani alleged, was reporting Aadhaar had cost Rs 50,000 crore while, in reality, only Rs 3,813 crore had been spent as of December 31.

The reports that his agency had issued Aadhaar cards to Pakistan terrorists were meant to defame him ahead of the polls, Nilekani said.

When ET asked Chandrasekhar about this, he said, "I am also surprised at the complaint because this is an expose (on Aadhaar) by a website in Delhi that has been carried by other media organisations as well."

He, however, sought to clarify that his association with the media was only as an investor. "It is between the journalists and him (Nilekani). The first rule for politicians who stand for elections is they must not hesitate to have their claims scrutinized. If someone has a legitimate issue, it will be dealt with by the due process of law.”

Chandrasekhar also added that everyone associated with his media organisation does his or her job with the highest level of professionalism.