Even as some candidates are out in the battlefield with their nose at the front, the better halves of Nandan Nilekani, Ananth Kumar and Geeta Shivarajkumar, are doing their bit to ensure their respective spouses win in their respective parliamentary constituencies. Compared to Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, Rohini Nilekani is a novice and learning the trick of campaigning and building a rapport with the voters in Bangalore South.
Tejaswini is a seasoned and experienced of the two, who have been campaigning for her husband from 1988 with great success as is reflected in Ananth Kumar winning the seat five times earlier. Though knowing former IT czar could be an attraction for IT professionals in the constituency to vote for him, Tejaswini has the advantage of having a connect, which she has established for the last 25 years with common voters while campaigning for her husband.
However, she faces a challenge from educated voters, asking what future the constituency has in the store if her husband is elected for the sixth time.
Nevertheless, Tejaswini, knowing all the tricks of the trade, tells people to vote for her husband because he would be part of the next government at the centre, which will benefit the constituency. Crooning the “Modi” mantra like her husband, which has come under sharp criticism from Nilekani, she also cajoles voters to think of the election on national level instead of local level. Tejaswini, an engineer, spends considerable time on her house and political life of her husband.
She also runs a charitable trust that supplies mid-day meals to thousands of schools. For Rohini, however, politics was not her a cup of tea and she found it hard to come to terms that her husband was joining politics, but she has begun to “gulp down politics” and says she did the right thing in supporting her husband and enjoys the campaign, which she considers it as fresh addition in her life. “It was a very difficult decision because obviously it is a game changer for the city and the country, but it is very hard at a personal level. But the right thing to do is to support him. And then I didn't look back,” Rohini said.
Rohini tells her voters during campaigns that her husband wants change and believes he could bring in the metamorphosis in the constituency. In contrast Rohini, like her husband, focuses on local issues, which has come under criticism from her opponents that Nilekani should then be contesting local bodies elections than general elections. Actor Shivarajkumar also is campaigning for his wife Geeta Shivarajkumar, contesting on JD-S ticket from Shimoga.
Shivarajkumar is a son of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar whose family had kept away from politics. In most of the campaigns, Shivarajkumar is accompanying his wife who is contesting for the first time and is pitted against the formidable Lingayat leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa fighting on a BJP ticket.
