)
As Mumbai heads for the polling booth on Thursday, most corporate leaders say they will be voting for a change at the Centre to bring in a government that is corruption-free, decisive and which can help revive the economy.
“I am clear who to vote for. The issues are governance, integrity, economic agenda, leadership qualities and the local candidate,” said Harsh Goenka, chairman of the RPG group.
The local candidate bit is creating some confusion. While almost every corporate leader wants to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, they are not happy with the choice of candidates by the Shiv Sena, the party’s ally in Maharashtra.
Most corporate leaders live in South Mumbai, which pits the Congress candidate, Milind Deora, son of former oil minister Murli Deora, against the BJP-backed Shiv Sena candidate, Arvind Sawant.
While three prominent business leaders have gone public with their support for Deora, others say Sawant, leader of an MTNL trade union, is not friendly to business.
“I wanted to vote for Modi but the local Shiv Sena candidate is not up to the mark,” said a prominent banker who did not wish to be named.
The stock broking community has, however, put its weight behind the “Modi candidate”. “The markets are looking for a change and stable economic policies,” said a broker asking not to be quoted.
A chief executive officer said the BJP should have put up stronger a candidate to take on Congress’ Priya Dutt, daughter of actor Sunil Dutt, in the Mumbai North West constituency. Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, is the BJP’s nominee against Dutt.
Besides, corporate chieftains want a government that will take immediate steps to revive the economy which has gone into a tailspin in the last three years with GDP growth slowing down to an average of six per cent. The stock markets have shot up by 8.2 per cent since January on hopes of a change in government.
Ajay Piramal, of the Piramal Group, said he was optimistic about India’s prospects and was expecting decisive action by the government to revive investments. “The growth rate in India has come down by half of what it was. This cannot continue. There are too many forces within the country which will push the growth rate. It will happen especially if we have a stable government which is decisive and which believes economic growth can be brought about by entrepreneurs.”
Harsh Mariwala, chairman, Marico, said: “As far as the issues when voting are concerned, it all boils down to the candidate and the party you want to vote for. I will keep these factors in mind when I cast my ballot because what issues are close to your heart will become clear with your choice of candidate and party.”
Among corporate India leaders, BJP-Shiv Sena candidates can look forward to support from the Videocon Group’s Rajkumar Dhoot, who won his third term as Rajya Sabha member from the Shiv Sena.
Chairman of Videocon Group Venugopal Dhoot said he would vote for a stable government that would reduce interest rates and tame rising prices. “The next government should immediately reduce interest rates so that business sentiments improve. I will vote for stability.”
VOICE FOR CHANGE
“The issues are governance, integrity, economic agenda, leadership qualities and the local candidate”
Harsh Goenka
Chairman, RPG Enterprises
“There are too many forces within the country which will push the economic growth. It will happen if we have a stable government which believes growth can be brought about by entrepreneurs”
Ajay Piramal
Chairman, Piramal Group
“My vote is for a stable government which would reduce interest rates and contain rising prices”
Venugopal Dhoot
Chairman, Videocon Group
“As far as the issues when voting are concerned, it all boils down to the candidate and the party you want to vote for”
Harsh Mariwala
Chairman, Marico Limited
