CHEERS: Mallya hopes to speak on industrial issues

The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha saw the grand entry of two business tycoons-Vijay Mallya of United Breweries and Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot of Videocon-into the Council of States. In the voting for 22 of the 59 seats that fell vacant, those who made it were men of real resources-Mallya (Karnataka), Dhoot and Mukesh Patel (Maharashtra), Dilip Ray (Orissa), Prem Gupta (Bihar) and Dinesh Trivedi (West Bengal). In a House of 245, they constitute a group of 16. That's a sizeable representation.

Since Ray, Patel, Gupta and Trivedi have had a term in the Rajya Sabha and as such already subordinated their business interests to a career in politics, it is the entry of Mallya and Dhoot that stands out today. What has really lured these barons into politics? What do they hope to achieve? Why do they, powerful and rich, want to be MPs? For parliamentary privilege? An admission that real power is in politics? Or is it all about that diplomatic passport? They won't say, they take refuge in lofty ideals. "I am not an MP for status or prestige. That I have as the chairman of a successful business group," says Mallya. "This new avenue is a good platform to serve a wider section of society, especially the rural folk."

SMART MOVE: Videocon's Dhoot entered the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra

For Congress MP R.P. Goenka, who got elected in 2000, it's post-business employment: "I had retired from business. I wanted to be gainfully employed. I became an MP to serve the Congress." A dapper Baijayanta Panda, who was elected to the House as Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate from Orissa two years ago, says it was the Government that pushed him into politics. After a nine-year stint in the US, Panda returned to family business in 1991 but soon found he could not innovate even in the climate of liberalisation. "I was very frustrated, spending 80 per cent of my time with bureaucrats and politicians to process papers," he says. A founding member of the BJD, Panda maintains he is not a politician but "an industrialist who is on a sabbatical in politics".

Gupta says money is not every thing. "I am not using politics to expand business. I have achieved in business whatever I set out to achieve," he says. "I had an urge to serve people, to serve society. That is why I became an MP." According to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh, businessmen are exploring the world of politics because money has no incremental value beyond a point. "If journalist Rajiv Shukla can enter Parliament using the industrialist route, why can't industrialists themselves do it?" he asks. Unhappy with his own inability to play an active role in the Rajya Sabha, Singh has a word of caution for the new entrants: "All industrialists will get disillusioned. The Rajya Sabha is a serious forum. They can become MPs but not politicians."

Analysts say that fractured mandates in state legislatures in the past one decade have led to the phenomenon of marginal Rajya Sabha seats. Such seats have usually to be secured through monetary inducements. Also, the client-patron relationship between political parties and businessmen has undergone a change under the New Economic Policy. With the end of the licence raj, businessmen who finance political parties have begun to see participation in power as a viable quid pro quo.

Old-timers recall how under the licence raj of the 1970s and '80s, no political party would flaunt its association with industrialists, except perhaps the Jan Sangh which sent Viren Shah to the Rajya Sabha in 1975. But then he was not a greenhorn; he had already had a term in the Lok Sabha (1967-71). On the other hand, Indira Gandhi did not mind nationalist-industrialists like G.D. Somani contesting the Lok Sabha elections but never accommodated them in the Council of States. Not even K.K. Birla, whose family was associated with the Congress. In 1984 she allowed him to contest only as a Congress-backed Independent candidate.

NEW ROLE: Goenka views his stint in the Rajya Sabha as post-business employment

The first time an industrialist made it to the Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate was in 1988. He was Kamal Morarka. A close aide of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, he even went on to become a minister. Six years later, Morarka was followed by others. The 1994 biennial elections marked the entry of two industrialists-Sanjay Dalmia (SP) and Jayant Malhoutra-from Uttar Pradesh. In 1996, five more joined: Amar Singh (SP) Akhilesh Das (Congress), Suresh Keswani (Shiv Sena-backed independent), Mukesh Patel (Shiv Sena) and Prem Chand Gupta (RJD).

"Industrialists are not untouchables. If labour leaders can be in the Rajya Sabha, why not industrialists?" asks former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash Kashyap. He points out how three-fourths of Switzerland's elected representatives are bankers. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah agrees: "If all the erstwhile rajas and maharajas can be in our Parliament, what is wrong if industrialists come in? I feel every type of person should be in the House."

Career politicians, however, have a problem with the baron in the House. "If the Yadavs with their criminal backgrounds became MPs in order to use parliamentary privilege to avoid arrests on murder charges, businessmen/industrialists want to use the immunity to save their skin in customs/excise cases," says a Congress leader. He mentions the frequent parties thrown by an MP-businessman from the south. Revenue officials are usually present in large numbers at this leader's do. There will be more parties now, with new hosts.