Nandan Nilekani not leaving, just inactive: Congress' Ramalinga Reddy

BENGALURU: Unhappy with reports that technocrat Nandan Nilekani is leaving the Congress, a senior cabinet minister in Karnataka, considered close to the IT czar, has categorically denied any such move. He, however, admitted that Nilekani was not keen on an active political life, anymore.

Karnataka’s transport minister Ramalinga Reddy, who is also in charge of the Bengaluru Urban district, told ET: “You can write it down and quote me. Nilekani will not leave the Congress or join any other party. He does not want to be politically active, but he is very close to the Gandhi family and will not harm the Congress in any way.”

Meanwhile, BJP leaders in the state insist they have not approached Nilekani. “We are not aware of what the central leaders have done on the matter, but neither city leaders nor state ones have sought to induct Nilekani into our party. He has also not approached us. But if he does want to join us, we will welcome him,” former city BJP president and senior MLA B N Vijayakumar, also from the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha segment, told ET.

Attempts by ET to contact Nilekani for a formal confirmation were not successful. However, Reddy said a few days back, Nilekani had sent a Congress party worker as a messenger to him, clarifying this stand. “He had also heard rumours about his quitting the Congress. He sent a message to me via, Mallikarjun, one of our party workers, that he will not leave the Congress,” he stated.

Nilekani has not been active in the party fora or at any event held by the Congress ever since he lost the elections for the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha seat in 2014, to Union chemical and fertilisers minister Anantkumar Reddy, who is also an MLA from the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency, made several attempts to get Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to accommodate Nilekani in a government post that suited his stature.

Till January this year, there was speculation that Nilekani could be inducted into Siddaramaiah’s core team to get Bengaluru back on track. Nilekani was expected to promote use of e-governance and work towards improving the city’s creaking infrastructure.