New Delhi

June 18, 2004

Leftists angry over spurt of Business Tycoons getting to Upper House

CPM Marxist is opposed to Anil Ambani's entry into Rajya Sabha

Corporate takeover of Parliament House

Leftists are concerned over the sudden spurt of Anil Ambani, MAM Chidambaram Ramaswamy chettiar and big business house barons entering to Rajya Sabha.

the CPM has criticised Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam
Singh for accommodating Anil Ambani and Deve Gowda for providing JD(U) seat from Karnataka to MAM Ramaswamy a relative of Union Minister P Chidambaram.

Left parties have begun to curse themselves.

Reason.

They have supported Congress led a United Progressive Alliance, with eighteen political parties with different ideologies. The Left is keen to ensure that no disinvestment takes place of any profit making companies. But at the same time the Left is too much worked up with Congress and Samajwadi Parties fielding many industrialists. The Left leaders in private conversations do agree that their main objective of keeping richmen away from Lower house have become a curse. Now most of the richmen have entered the upper house.

CPM says that richmen getting entry into Rajya Sabha with
a prime motive to block all progressive proposals such
as reservations in private jobs, to encourage disinvestment
proposals etc.

While the progressive ideas of Left parties in store for the next five years, by way of Common Minimum Programme, the recent richmen and businessmen entering into Rajya Sabha have come as a rude shock to Left parties.

How could it be? We were not knowing such aggress

What are the young and the super-rich doing playing politician? With Reliance man Anil Ambani headed for the Rajya Sabha, corporate head-honchos are quite taking over
Parliament.

Boardroom politics or a political boardroom? Look out for a corporate culture soon where an easy-going, traditional way of doing things has existed so far. The new lawmakers mean business.

Milind Deora, 27, who dabbled in the business of plastics before politics, promises: "We can corporatise things. The business world is all about systems, processes in arriving at conclusions. That can be applied here."

These are guys you picture in board meetings during the day, courting page 3 at night. In snappy suits far removed from the ubiquitous kurta-pyjama that walks the corridors of power.

Ambani, 45, who has filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections, is set to join industrialists like Raj Kumar Dhoot and Vijay Mallya, both 49, in the House of Elders. Then there is the dapper Jay Panda, 40, currently on time out in Sao Paulo.

These lawmakers mean business

In the Lok Sabha, 34-year-old industrialist-sportsman-crusader Navin Jindal is an earnest new neta. And there's Deora.

R P Goenka, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, is not young, but has enough economic clout not to be ignored. There are of course numerous other businessmen, newspaper barons and the like in Parliament, but we are
talking seriously big here. Together these few good men have enough money to buy a couple of countries.

The Rajya Sabha traditionally has a top industrialist or two, usually senior men, semi-retired. They've even participated robustly - remember it was K K Birla who first refused to ask Defence Minister George Fernandes a question in the Rajya Sabha.

But the young ones are a different kettle of fish. These are CEOs, who spend the rest of the year taking decisions, giving orders, generally calling the shots. They actively run businesses when not in Parliament. And they are certainly
not going to retire in a long while.

Vijay Mallya of the UB group makes liquor, parties hard and wins awards for designer calendars. Dhoot of Videocon makes refrigerators, washing machines and the like. Panda's family is into mining-related industries and Jindal makes steel. Ambani makes everything.

The value add factor

But will a great industrialist make a great lawmaker? Ambani, the biggest by far, said while filing his papers that he was fulfilling his father's wish: "It will be my honour and privilege to make my humble contribution to the development of India
as an economic superpower and the fast-track progress of the state of Uttar Pradesh."

Milind, one of the youngest MPs, says industrialists as politicians can only improve matters. "People from different backgrounds add a fresh perspective. Industrialists add great value, bringing their skills in consensus building and debating issues."

Navin Jindal, eager to get into the thick of things as an MP, agrees wholeheartedly that industrialists are a good thing to happen to the system. "They know how to use limited resources in the best possible manner." Also that they know the pitfalls in getting clearances, where red tape chokes the system, and all about best practices and efficiency.

All very well as long as "the reason they are here is to make a difference and serve the nation, not their own business interests," Navin points out. Milind's thoughts entirely.

Jindal is already off the block in clean-up attempts. In the week-long first session of the 14th Lok Sabha, he has already moved to have Parliament premises declared a "no smoking zone". But he is also the first to add a disclaimer:
"It really depends from person to person. Not every industrialist is good, not every politician bad."

Fair enough. And perhaps the rich, corporate kinds will not be tempted to dip into the tax-payer's money, they have enough of their own. "Absolutely", Milind agrees, "I won't say rich, anyone who has an independent source of income will tend to be less corrupt.