Close on the heels of ABN Amro's head of Indian operations Meera Sanyal announcing her candidature for the Lok Sabha elections as a South Mumbai independent (See: ABN Amro India chief to contest LS poll), another corporate head, iconic Air Deccan founder G R Gopinath, has decided to do the same from Bangalore.

Unlike Sanyal, however, this is not the first political foray for Captain Gopinath, as he is popularly known. He had contested the Karnataka assembly elections in 1994 as a BJP candidate, but failed to win the Gandasi seat in his home district of Hassan.

At a press conference that he called this morning soon after he took his decision, captain Gopinath said he is yet to decide on which of the four Bangalore Lok Sabha constituencies he will contest from.

Elaborating his plank, Gopinath said, ''None of the political parties represent the aspirations of a new, young and emerging India, which is frustrated with what they have.'' His goals would be to represent the best interests of the constituency he represents, and to create jobs and seek to end inequality, he added.

''My plunge into politics was born out of my own frustration, agony and pain at the kind of political set-up we have in our country. Our political parties are either with a particular community or are fighting against a community; they are either with business houses or against business houses. There is no inner party democracy in any party,'' he said.

Like Sanyal, he also expressed disillusionment with political parties' response to the Mumbai terror attacks. ''It was not spontaneous. There was no fire in their speech,'' he said of the political response to the terror attacks. ''I never found any feeling. It was largely a political consideration. The response was weak.''

Gopinath said he was staying in one of Mumbai's hotels when terrorists put the city under siege.

He is also upset about the attacks on women in Bangalore by a communal organisation, where again he feels the political response was inadequate. ``I was inspired by my daughter who joined the protest against moral policing and attacks on women,'' he said.

Gopinath said his decision to contest was also inspired by friends like Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Janagraha founder Ramesh Ramanathan. "But let me make it clear, I am not targeting only the educated elite. I would also represent the aspirations of the rural youth in search of jobs, besides bringing a change in the political system,'' he added.

Self-funded campaign
Like Sanyal again, Gopinath has said that his costs would be within the Rs25 lakh limit prescribed by the Election Commission. He also said he would start an e-campaign by setting up websites and blogs, besides taking up a public campaign.

"I will raise funds for the polls with the help of friends, besides a few lakhs from my own pocket,'' he said. "Money unspent would be donated to an NGO or any group fighting for a social cause.''

The captain is under no illusions about his chances of winning. ''I know how elections are fought,'' he said. ''I know my chances of winning are low. But contesting is more important to me. I would be happy if someone is inspired by me to take the plunge into the electoral system and bring about a change.''

''Even if I can symbolically create that new participation, help make existing parties accountable, I am happy. If I can catch hold of the collar of an MLA, of a minister, I think I will have achieved my objective,'' he said.

Asked whether he would seek support from any political party, he said he would accept support from anyone, but only on the condition that they extend unconditional support and express confidence in his philosophy and ideology.

According to the Indian Express, Infosys Chief Mentor Narayan Murthy welcomed Gopinath's interest in politics. ''As long as wonderful people like Meera (Sanyal), I know Meera, and Captain Gopinath who are decent people, as long as they have age with them, it is absolutely wonderful,'' said Murthy, dwelling on his theme that politicians should be energetic and not too old.

Nonetheless, people are bound to speculate on whether the decision by these corporate bigwigs to enter politics has something to do with the current economic downturn.

The deeply troubled ABN Amro is in the process handing over its Asian operations to the Bank of Scotland (See: ABN Amro India chief to contest LS poll) while Air Deccan has been hit as hard as any other airline by the unprecedented lows in passenger traffic as well as last year's spike in fuel prices.