Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party leaders may be preparing to launch a big campaign for the surprise candidate of the party, Tejasvi Surya in Bengaluru south after Ugadi, but they have reportedly struck a hard bargain with him for their support.
BJP veterans like V. Somanna and R. Ashok are said to have made sure that Mr Surya did not trespass on their "territory" in the city if he was elected, before agreeing to campaign for him.
Mr Surya is said to have met Mr Somanna at his home on Monday, accompanied by his uncle, Ravi Subramanya, to ask for his support in Bengaluru south. Going by party sources, Mr Sommana at first took Mr Subramanya to task for not keeping him in the loop about Mr Surya's candidature as party workers had already launched padayatras in Vijayanagara to campaign for Ms Tejaswini Ananth Kumar , widow of the late Union minister, who was widely expected to be fielded from the constituency.
He then reportedly made it clear that Mr Surya should not meddle with the politics of Govindaraja Nagar and Vijayanagara. While he had no problem with any developmental work he wanted to do, he could not appoint his men or draft them for any political work without his approval, the senior leader is said to have informed him.
Mr Ashok too is believed to have told Mr Surya in no uncertain terms that he could not interfere with the affairs of the party's city unit. It was only after they were positive that the young aspiring MP from Bengaluru south had got the message did they finally agree to campaign for him, reveal sources.
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