Nilekani shining: Bangalore South shocker for BJP

When BJP’s poster boy in Karnataka, Ananth Kumar, was alerted by his politician friends that the Congress would field IT czar and billionaire Nandan Nilekani against him in Bangalore South in the parliamentary polls, his supporters reportedly reacted with a smirk.

Everybody in the BJP, including Ananth Kumar, was apparently under the impression that it would be yet another cakewalk for the former Union minister because Nilekani neither had a political background nor a rapport with voters. But a few weeks later, both the BJP and Ananth Kumar have started showing signs of nervousness. Nilekani’s multi-pronged, intense campaign has caught them off-guard.

Much before the Congress announced its list of candidates, Nandan had made adequate preparations.

He had set up his campaign team comprising political veterans, social media specialists, spin doctors, and urban experts, who identified the issues affecting voters of Bangalore South. When his candidature was announced, Nilekani mounted a full-fledged digital war against Ananth Kumar highlighting the issues.

His presence on digital media was so strong that any person accessing the Internet from a Bangalore-based IP address, would be welcomed by Nandan’s messages and banner ads. His team also effectively used social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to connect with voters of the constituency.

On the contrary, Ananth Kumar was late in building his online profile; the realization that he even had to build one, happened only after Nandan’s Internet strategy became the talk of the town.

Though Ananth Kumar had a website, Twitter handle and Facebook page, they were rarely used. Unlike Nandan, Ananth Kumar reportedly entrusted his relatives with the task of managing his social media profile. Though he hired a full-time PR agency, the relationship did not last long. All the press releases, sound bites, photographs and media alerts, which became active from Ananth Kumar’s office for the first time in the last 10 years, lasted for only a month and his media campaign ended abruptly. In effect, Nandan literally won the digital and media war against Ananth Kumar.

“This is a case study to show what happens to an overconfident public personality when he/she under-estimates the opponent of the calibre of Nandan. The BJP’s campaign started with the premise that Nandan is a political novice. But in a matter of month, Nandan unsettled Ananth Kumar to such an extent that the latter undertook all the initiatives, that he scoffed at in the past.

As far as the image management of the candidates is concerned, Nandan has won hands-down. He started from zero and has become the talk of the town creating mindshare among the voters,” observed Cauvery Nanaiah, vice president, MSL Group India, a strategic communications and engagement company.

The Bangalore South constituency comprises eight assembly segments and the Congress and the BJP represent four each. If Ananth Kumar’s winning streak (five consecutive victories) is taken into consideration, he appears to be the dominant candidate. However, in the last two polls, his victory margin has been reducing.

In the 2004 elections,his victory margin was 62,271 votes; in the 2009 elections, it had reduced to 37,612 votes. His traditional vote-bank comprises the segments of Bommanahalli, Basavanagudi, Padmanabhanagar and Jayanagar. The Congress MLAs in Vijayanagar, Govindarajanagar, BTM Layout and Chikpet meanwhile are working overtime by taking Nandan on door-to-door campaigns. Interestingly, Nandan has been seen campaigning more in the BJP bastions by shedding his corporate image and donning the clothes of an ordinary person.

The Brahmin vote bank is strong in Bangalore South and the community had always identified itself with the BJP. In the absence of any other Brahmin candidate, the community voted overwhelmingly for the BJP. But now with Nandan, another Brahmin in the fray, and with his easy connect among the youth and the IT crowd, it will be difficult to ascertain whether the Brahmins will continue to patronize Ananth Kumar. Also, Nandan has been making friends among the Vokkaligas, another significant vote bank by visiting the community heads and important leaders.

Though Nandan has been raising local issues, Ananth Kumar’s campaign encompasses national issues. Though the ‘Modi wave’ is omnipresent in the constituency, the Congress has taken Ananth Kumar head on by trying to show that he has no interest in local issues.

“I will still bet on Ananth Kumar because the BJP has cadre-based workers, who know how to drive voters to the booths and have been working at the grassroots level. But look at Nandan’s tactics. He started from a scratch and Ananth Kumar, who had won easily in the past, had to slog it out on the streets. The BJP is even bringing down Narendra Modi to campaign for Ananth. Nandan has definitely created a scare and will not go down without a fight,” said political historian A Veerappa.