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Gopinath, who surprised many when he announced his candidature from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, where Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ananth Kumar and Congress' Krishna ByreGowda were contesting, could secure only 16,383 votes in a field of 20 contestants.
This was Gopinath's second unsuccessful attempt in politics, after a 15-year gap. He had earlier contested on a BJP ticket but lost.
However, this time Gopinath said he had taken the plunge to bring about a change. His slogan 'Vote for Change and Vote You Must,' found many takers among the youth, many of whom volunteered to work for Gopinath who changed the face of the aviation sector with his concept of low cost carriers.
However, the appeal did not strike a chord among all. Gopinath, who had also stated that he might not win, clarified that he wanted to at least take the first step and offer a choice to the electorate who did not want to vote for a party.
Gopinath had the endorsement of India Inc with CMD of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Infosys mentor Narayan Murthy among others, expressing their solidarity with him.
The electioneering of the low-cost aviation man had followed the low-cost expenditure in campaigning, he claimed.