India Inc warming up to AAP? Infy ex-board member V Balakrishnan joins party

In a surprise move, V Balakrishnan, who stepped down as board member of software behemoth Infosys recently creating ripples in the corporate circles, has joined the Aam Admi Party.

“Yes I have become the member of AAP, have got the confirmation today,” Balakrishnan told PTI with his move to dabble in politics coming three weeks after his sudden exit from India’s second largest software services exporter.

“They (AAP) have revolutionised politics in this country, I’m fascinated with it,” Balakrishnan said.

[caption id=“attachment_1302983” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  V Balakrishnan[/caption]

Announcing Balakrishnan’s exit on 20 December as member of the board and from services of the company, Infosys had said the resignation is effective 31 December.

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Balakrishnan, who joined Infosys in 1991 and later became its chief financial officer, was said to be a top contender to the post of chief executive officer.

In response to a question whether he was looking for a full-time political career along with business commitments, he said, “In future, I think so….; I think I will be able to manage both.”

Balakrishnan, soon after his exit from Infosys, had said he was waiting for SEBI’s approval for his private equity fund, which he has formed along with former Infosys executive Mohandas Pai and former Wipro executive Girish Paranjpe.

To a question on contesting the Lok Sabha elections, he said, “It’s too early to say anything about it.” Balakrishnan was also the BPO head at Infosys as well as the Chairman of Infosys Lodestone, a global management consultancy firm.

Earlier, Infosys Executive Chairman NR Narayana Murthy had lauded AAP for its spectacular victory in the Delhi elections.Terming the AAP winning 28 seats “a truly remarkable achievement”, he told the Economic Times that it has destroyed the myth political parties need a lot of money to win elections.

In October Meera Sanyal, the former chairperson of Royal Bank of Scotland took a break from her career and went fromhouse to house to mobilising people to vote for the debutant Aam Aadmi Party.

In an interview to ET recently, Sanyal said, “Our heart is with the AAP, but one needs to understand their economic policies to figure out of our mind is also with the party. I am not ruling out the possibility (of joining AAP), but I haven’t made a final decision yet.” Sanyal quit her job as the chairperson of RBS yesterday.

She met AAP leader and Prashant Bhushan in Mumbai yesterday and lauded AAP’s economic policies.

Entrepreneur Mahesh Murthy also shows interest in the AAP and finds its ideas interesting. In an interview to _Firstpost_ _,_ Murthy said that though he has not joined the party, he does find certain things attractive in the AAP.

“What I find attractive about AAP is the hard work and integrity of its leaders and rank staff and file. I also find their focus on cleaning India of corruption refreshing, idealistic - and also perhaps achievable,” he said.