BJP's Tejasvi Surya files papers for Bangalore South

Bengaluru: BJP’s Tejaswi Surya on Tuesday filed his nomination for Bengaluru south constituency, as his choice took the party state unit by surprise with the widow of union minister Ananth Kumar being denied the ticket.

The party sprang a surprise by giving the ticket to 28-year-old Surya, an advocate and the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha general secretary, belying expectations that Tejaswini Ananth Kumar would be its choice for the constituency that her husband represented six times.

As Surya filed the nominations to take on senior Congress leader B K Hari Prasad, he was accompanied only by one MLA Uday Garudachar and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, with other lawmakers from Bangalore South conspicuous by their absence.

The announcement of Surya’s name in the wee hours of Tuesday surprised the state leadership itself as the Karnataka unit had recommended only the name of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar.

“We had sent only one name. It was changed in Delhi,” said state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa.

State senior BJP leader R Ashoka said “The only name our Karnataka core committee sent to the high command was of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, but the central leaders denied her a ticket.

I don’t know why they changed our decision.

State president B S Yeddyurappa, myself and the party workers will abide by the decision and work for our victory,” said Ashok.”

As the name surfaced in the eleventh hour, Surya called on Tejaswini Ananth Kumar and sought her blessings.

However, he was greeted with sloganeering by supporters of Ananth Kumar, who protested against denial of ticket to his wife.

Asked about the absence of MLAs from Bangalore South during the filing of nominations by Surya, Ashoka said he was in Bangalore rural constituency on a programme fixed earlier to be with the party candidate while submitting papers.

“Bengaluru has several leaders. Bengaluru is our bastion,” he said, seeking to downplay the absence of party MLAs.

Tejaswini Ananth Kumar accepted the party decision but did not turn up when the BJP candidate filed the nominations.

Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal indicated his dissatisfaction over the party’s decision.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, “I will not go into it because the party has taken a decision.

I don’t know how the decision was arrived at.

People today are voting, keeping Modi in their mind.

In many places, such candidates have been fielded that people will not like to vote. People are voting for the BJP because there are many anti-national activities.