Bengaluru: At 28, Tejasvi Surya could well go down in the record books as the youngest BJP candidate to step into the saffron trenches in the party's bastion since 1991. But as the lawyer turned politician handed in his nomination papers on Tuesday for next month's Lok Sabha elections when he was picked by the BJP top brass over frontrunner Mrs Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of the late Union minister, early Tuesday, the question that had BJP circles abuzz was whether this huge gamble to throw in an electoral novice would work in the party's favor?
In the surprise move, the BJP fielded party's youth wing leader Tejaswi Surya from its bastion of Bangalore South from where the widow of union minister Ananth Kumar, a six-time MP from this prestigious Lok Sabha constituency, was denied the ticket.
Ending the suspense with just hours left for the deadline for filing of nominations for the first phase of polls in Karnataka, the BJP central leadership announced past midnight Monday night the name of 28-year-old Surya, a lawyer and a member of the party's national social media campaign team. Surya, also the general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, is from the RSS stable.
It was widely expected that the BJP would field Tejaswini given her active participation in scripting her husband's victories from the seat six times, but Surya emerged as the dark horse.
Tejaswi Surya, BJP candidate for Bengaluru South constituency, arrives to file his nomination papers.
BJP sources, insisted however that fielding a novice was to build a second line of young and talented leaders who can lead the party.
Sitting near the portrait of her husband late Ananth Kumar at her Basavanagudi residence , Tejaswini Ananth Kumar tried to hide her disappointment and anger as hundreds of party karyakartas flooded the house Tuesday morning wondering why she had been denied the Bengaluru South ticket. "It's the time to show our maturity," she repeatedly told the disappointed BJP workers. Tejaswini was so confident about fighting the poll on BJP ticket , she had been preparing for it and had started a door-to-door campaign and had done a round of the temples.
She said the party decision came as a shock to her and all of her supporters but maintained that it is very important to show that the BJP was a party with a difference.
Soon arrived the official BJP candidate, Tejaswi Surya, along with his uncle and Basavanagudi MLA, Ravi Subramanya to seek her blessings, both of whom were groomed by her husband. Tejaswini wished Surya the best in the election but her supporters were not so kind shouting 'Go back Surya'.
During her brief interaction with Tejaswi, she said she would abide by the party decision. "I believe in the words of Ananthkumarji, he often said, 'country comes first, party second and individual interests come last", she reiterated. "I will support the party candidate and campaign for him. Ever since my marriage, I am involved in party work and in election campaigns. This time too I will take part in the campaign because our aim is to make Narendra Modi PM again", she told the workers; Even as some of her supporters urged her to contest as an Independent.
The surprise over his candidature was not limited to party workers but the candidate himself as mirrored by his "OMG, OMG!! I can't believe this" reaction in the form of a tweet over the late night announcement by the party on Monday. But the nomination undoubtedly upset Mrs Tejaswini and senior leaders and former ministers, R Ashoka and V Somanna, who along with a couple of other city legislators stayed away when he went to file his nomination papers.
A deeply upset Tejaswani publicly blessed him and said she would abide by the decision of the party but with her supporters chanting "Go back Surya" slogans outside her residence as Surya walked in to seek her blessings, it was clear the mood of the workers was anything but supportive.
Tejaswini is reported to have even cut the conversation short when he tried to clarify his position on his surprise nomination. Insiders said she told the young man "it is not the place or time to have this conversation. You should demonstrate maturity as party workers are deeply hurt with this development. We should respect the sentiments of party workers."
The general secretary of BJP's Yuva Morcha was flanked by his uncle and Basavanagudi legislator Ravi Subramanya, Uday Garudachar, who represents Chikkapet in the Assembly, and Rajya Sabha Member Rajeev Chandrashekar when he arrived to submit his nomination papers while others stayed away in an obvious show of dissent over his candidature.
Sources in the party have shared their concerns on whether he would make the mark despite his oratorical skills as a young lawyer who has expressed his views eloquently on issues such as triple talaq, national security, Article 370 of the Constitution in various newspapers and online portals. He has played a key role in organizing meetings in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accompanied Ananth Kumar across the country during veteran leader L K Advani's "Jan Chetana" yatra in 2011.
He could impress the millennials with his oratory skills, but would the youth turn up in significant numbers and vote for him, given Benguluru's dubious record on low voter turnout and the fact that polling in Bengaluru (South) on April 18 would coincide with a string of holidays?
