Industrialist-MPs prefer politics over business

Rahul Bajaj is curious about the true estimates of poverty, Rajeev Chandrasekhar is inquisitive about Noor Inayat Khan, the little known British spy of Indian origin during World War II, and Vijay Mallya wants to know the alimony to be paid at the break-up of a live-in relationship.

Have the corporate chieftains gone bonkers? Not really. These are some of the questions asked by these industrialists-turned-Parliamentarians on the floor of the House.

Unlike film stars, who rarely attend sessions and seldom raise questions, industrialists seem to be better Parliamentarians. Most of them shoot rapid questions and attend the sessions regularly.

"This session, my attendance has been 100 per cent," says Rajya Sabha member Chandrasekhar, adding: "For me, it is not a part-time job but a serious responsibility."

Chandrasekhar refrains from raising business issues on the floor of the House and focuses on areas such as national security, floods and health.

"A recurring theme in the issues I have raised is enforcement of laws and policies. I want to know is the government doing what it ought to do," says he.

Rajkumar Dhoot of Videocon, another Rajya Sabha member, has asked 805 questions, 300 of these relate to his home town, Aurangabad. "I have asked a few questions on petroleum and natural gas, but these are of a general nature and nothing to do with policies that could affect Videocon Petroleum," he says, adding: "My brother is into business; I feel more of an MP than a businessman."

Lok Sabha MP Naveen Jindal, who runs Jindal Steel and Power, has asked questions on the power sector, revision of coal royalties, fuel pricing, ageing oilfields and old bottling plants and refineries, though most of his 206 questions are on sports, national symbols and his constituency, Kurukshetra in Haryana.

"Politics is looked down upon and seen as a dirty man's business, but my aim has been to push my concerns in the House," he says.

His colleague in Lok Sabha, Vijaywada MP and Lanco founder Lagadapati Rajagopal, has asked 176 questions and admits quite candidly to preferring politics over business.

Rajagopal says that he has been approached by many of his colleagues to ask more business-related questions, but he has always refused. "Only on two occasions have I involved myself in Lanco's affairs. Once, when the Lanco public issue came out in October 2006, and again when the Sasan project tender was a matter of contention," he says.

Flamboyant businessman and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya has till date asked 327 questions, out of which almost two-thirds deal with the state of infrastructure in Karnataka, more particularly in Bangalore.

He does have occasional flashes of asking questions dealing with social issues, such as alimony for common law couples, care of senior citizens and even the rehabilitation of children of Devdasis.

The most academic of them all is, however, Rahul Bajaj, who has asked around 28 questions, a lot of them dealing with India's space programme, estimates of poverty, impact of climate change, non-merit subsidies and suicides of farmers vis-à-vis pulse production and significantly, foreign contributions to political parties.