Technocrats give politicians a run for their money

kolkata: rajya sabha mps no longer come from the pool of career politicians. bureaucrats, professionals, technocrats, artistes - they are all ready to campaign among hardened legislators, instead of waiting for the president of india to nominate them. arjun sengupta, congress nominee from west bengal, has impressive career credentials. he has a doctoral degree from massachusetts institute of technology, holds faculty position at jawaharlal nehru university, is a former member secretary of planning commission, was an indian ambassador to european union, international monetary fund executive director and economic advisor to indira gandhi.“after a long time, the congress has been able to field such a heavyweight candidate for rajya sabha,� remarked pranab mukherjee who is believed to have handpicked sengupta. trinamul congress candidate dinesh trivedi, though not an unfamiliar face in political circles, can hardly be called a political leader. it was former prime minister v.p. singh who brought the pilot working with a foreign airline to rajya sabha. trivedi later faded out along with his mentor, only to surface alongside mamata banerjee when trinamul was floated. the apolitical approach is evident. “what is wrong if i go to rajya sabha? mamata should realise that i can do little harm to her party. in rajya sabha i will do a bit of shouting on behalf of the state,� sengupta told tnn. pranab mukherjee agrees. ruling out any possibility of horse-trading, mukherjee said all sengupta can give are “his economic theories�. “mlas in west bengal are different from those in many other states. i am confident that will rise above petty partisan equations. i am banking on this. i am rather confident now,� sengupta said. trivedi has a different approach altogether. he is hurt that people in trinamul and a section of mediapersons have been branding him as an “outsider.� “i am born and brought up in kolkata. i started my public life as a consumer rights activist in this city,� trivedi recollected fondly. once in rajya sabha, trivedi will look into speedier implementation of central schemes meant for west bengal. despite sengupta’s confidence, the congress gameplan is to engineer partial defection from trinamul. mamata banerjee has pledged all the 60 votes in favour of trivedi. if the congress can ensure a few votes less for trivedi, the signal that will go out is that the trinamul supremo has not been able to keep her house in order. if that happens, then trinamul loses at the cost of trivedi’s win.