Parrikkar interacts with professionals, slams Nilekani’s Aadhaar IIT mates at crossroads in Bengaluru

With less than 100 hours to go to polling, the BJP pulled out an ace in the form of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar perhaps to neutralise the influence of Nandan Nilekani and the Congress party’s star campaigners like S.M. Krishna who might have struck a chord with the upper middle class and affluent sections in the city.

The IITian and a batchmate of Nandan Nilekani, Mr Parrikar on Sunday interacted with professionals to drive home the message that the country needs decisive leadership.

Without taking Mr Nilekani’s name, Mr Parrikar said, “I respect all IITians. I feel sorry if they spend their energy on the wrong things,” hinting at Mr Nilekani’s pet-project, Aadhaar. “Originally Advaniji mooted the idea of giving national identity cards.

Goa CM and IITian Manohar Parrikkar and a batchmate of Nandan Nilekani, interacted with professionals to drive home the message that the country needs decisive leadership.

Without taking Congress candidate Mr Nilekani’s name, Mr Parrikar said, that the former Infosys boss spend his energy on the wrong things, hinting at the Aadhaar project.

But on seeing the implementation of Aadhaar, I can say it has lost its purpose. It has not been implemented under any legal framework. The very purpose of Aadhaar is lost due to lack of clarity.”

According to sources, the 1000-odd professionals who attended the interaction are not sympathisers of the BJP. “There is no point in getting our own people and make them sit through the interaction with Mr Parrikar. We carefully selected outsiders who can go back and influence their family and friends. That’s the pur- pose of this interaction,” said one of the organisers.

Is the BJP so desperate that it had to call Mr Parrikar to control the damage Mr Nilekani has caused to Ananth Kumar’s prospects? “Not at all. In the interaction, Mr Parrikar did not seek vote for Ananth Kumar or P.C. Mohan (Bengaluru Central BJP candidate). If we were desperate he would have stressed that point. He spoke about GM food, IIT education and good governance. He countered many of the Congress ideas. One was the direct cash benefit scheme. Likewise, he spoke about secularism,” the organiser said.