Professionals in Politics - Misfits ?

Yesterday, on NDTV We The People program, the topic discussed was Can Professionals Be Good Politicians ? Amongst the participants were two "star" independent candidates, Captain Gopinath (Deccan Airways) and Ms. Meera Sanyal (ABN-AMRO) contesting from prestigious Bangalore South and Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituencies. The limited influence of independent MPs was brought out by eminent lawyer Mr. Harish Salve. Of course, there were lot of people who vociferously supported these two and said it is time professionals enter politics and "clean up" the system. Though winnability of the independent candidates is doubtful, I feel it is a good sign that professionals are taking an interest in politics. One among the audience pointed out that Ajit Singh, who was earlier with IBM, did not do very well in politics. One swallow does not make a summer. Professionals can definitely make a mark. It is indeed a good sign that instead of shunning politics, some professionals are evincing interest and I am sure this will bring lot of people, who so far have avoided polling booths like plague, to come out and cast their ballots.