Firstpost India Nilekani weighing ‘all options’ after Aadhaar: he should pick politics by FP Staff Oct 15, 2013
Amid reports that he may join politics, UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani today said he was considering all options post-Aadhaar. “I am considering all my options as I look at what I do post-Aadhaar,” Nilekani told PTI when asked about his plans on joining politics. Nilekani, an IIT-ian who left Infosys to join the government as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said, ”Having a strong corporate background has been beneficial but there were few adjustments I had to make accordingly to work in the government sector.” Nilekani is currently writing a book. Reuters Nilekani, 58, is currently working on his next book which would be based on how to set a link between technology and the government. Media reports last month said that Nilekani may join the Congress party and contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Nilekani may have chosen to keep his cards close to his chest when it comes to taking the plunge into politics but as a Firstpost column said his arrival in politics could even give a party like the Congress a stamp of credibility. At the time of speculation that he would contest on a Congress ticket we had noted: It’s about time therefore that Nilekani poked his (much sharper) nose into the business of politics. There are things to be done beyond giving a billion Indians an unqiue identity number. And they need doers like Nilekani (not talkers like professional politicians) to get them done. Still, it helps to be in electoral politics. It lends legitimacy to actions which mere technocrats would never have. It also helps in the task of building the ‘coalitions’ necessary to affect change in complicated India. Read more on why Nilekani should enter politics. with inputs from PTI