Professionals look to clean up India's 'dirty politics'

Middle-class professionals have been spurred into standing in India's general elections, fed up with what they say are declining standards of governance and complacency, corruption and cronyism.
In the country's financial capital, Mumbai, three candidates are contesting polls that open here on April 30, including the country head of Dutch investment bank ABN Amro, Meera Sanyal.
Elsewhere, the founder of low-cost carrier Air Deccan, GR "Captain Gopi" Gopinath, is standing in the southern city of Bangalore, the nerve centre of India's outsourcing boom.
All are calling for better political leadership, plus an end to under-the-table deals, criminality among lawmakers and divisive policies along caste, religious or regional lines.
Like Gopinath, Sanyal is standing as an independent, billing herself as the candidate for Mumbai's educated middle classes, who have long been apathetic towards the political process.
Mumbai saw widespread protests against India's leaders in the wake of last November's deadly militant attacks, after glaring intelligence failings came to light and security forces were found to be under-equipped and ill-trained.