New Delhi/ Bengaluru: In a midnight surprise, the BJP has picked young face Tejasvi Surya for the prestigious Bengaluru South Lok Sabha seat, which was widely expected to go to Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of late Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who passed away in November last year. The Minister had won six straight terms from Bengaluru South between 1996 and 2014.
The Karnataka BJP had also recommended only one name to the party High Command — that of Tejaswini — who is hugely popular in the Constituency through her NGO. State BJP Chief B.S. Yeddyurappa had also backed her fully and till last week, the announcement of her candidature was being seen as just a matter of formality.
In the fresh list of candidates released by the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) in New Delhi on Monday night, late Union Minister’s wife Tejaswini has been denied ticket from Bengaluru South and instead the party has reposed faith in Tejasvi Surya, an active youth leader of the party.
Apparently, Tejasvi’s Brahmin background and also good RSS backing has helped him to get the crucial seat.
The 28-year-old Tejasvi, known for his good oratory skills, is a practicing lawyer at Karnataka High Court and also the Vice-President of the State BJP Yuva Morcha. He is known for his strong pro-Hindutva views and often takes potshots at those who oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media and in public forums.
However, four days ago the local party leaders started discussing the possibility of PM Modi contesting from there, thus increasing the curiosity and tension in some camps.
The Congress, which was desperately looking for a suitable candidate, finally fielded party veteran and Rajya Sabha MP B.K. Hariprasad from there. He had lost to Ananth Kumar by 65,000 votes in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.
The candidature of Tejasvi Surya, who is known for his strong Hindutva views, has shocked the Ananth Kumar camp.
Tejaswini on Monday tweeted that for her, it was country first, party second and personal life last. Perhaps, she was aware of the fact that the ticket was slipping away from her hand.
According to local BJP leaders, Tejasvi has been chosen over Tejaswini just to target the family politics of JD(S) and Congress. “Tejaswini is a good candidate. But she is Ananth Kumar’s widow. She wanted to claim his legacy. Perhaps, our High Command thought that it was not appropriate and has picked young face Tejasvi Surya,” said a State leader.
Tejasvi is an important figure in the State BJP’s Media Management Cell and has good equations with the Yeddyurappa camp. His uncle Ravi Subramanya is a three-time BJP MLA from Basavanagudi in the same Lok Sabha Constituency.
Bengaluru South is known to be an anti-Congress seat since 1977. In the last 10 elections, the Congress won the seat only once in 1989. Late Chief Minister R. Gundu Rao had won by a huge margin then. The seat has been with the BJP since 1991. Gundu Rao’s son Dinesh Gundu Rao is the current President of KPCC and a five-time MLA from Gandhinagar in Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat.
Considered a Brahmin seat, Bengaluru South Constituency has been represented by only Brahmins nine times since 1977. Infosys Co-founder and Aadhaar Founder Nandan Nilekani had lost on a Congress ticket to Ananth Kumar in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Since the BJP as a party is well-entrenched in the seat, not many doubt yet another win for the saffron party. After all, Tejasvi Surya is also a Brahmin. Will he be the tenth Brahmin to win from there? One has to wait till May 23 for the answer.
It may be recalled Tejasvi Surya was in Mysuru on Mar.22 to participate in voter awareness among youth campaign organised under the banner “Volunteers for Nation Students Conclave 2k19” at the KSOU Convocation Hall.
it is good to see more youth are given chance, be it JDS, BJP or Congress. Politics should have a retirement age of 65 like in other sectors. In this case, this young man is suitable compared to the widow of Ananthkumar. She may contest and win one time with sympathy votes, but these young men will work and get the things. That is what is needed at this hour. Mr Simha is a great example of getting things done.
Message is clear.
Be aggressive, Hate Monger, fake news spreader and keep shouting Jai Modi; you will be rewarded.
Of course young Tejaswi Surya may be a worthy candidate.But the attitude of the BJP top brass in ditching Ms.Tejaswini at the last minute not only brushing aside the State unit’s recommendation in her favour and what is worse not taking it’s leaders including Mr.Yediyurappa into confidence has left a bad taste.The unfortunate turn of events which have followed the easing out of party veterans Advani and Dr.M.M.Joshi from the electoral contests in a rude manner have only shown the way the BJP is functioning in bad light.
SOM,
When will u publish the news relating to Tejasi Surya’s Metoo allegation?
https://www.ndtv.com/bangalore-news/lok-sabha-elections-2019-congress-accuses-bjps-bengaluru-candidate-tejasvi-surya-of-sexual-assault-2013946
It is Just an Allegation you moron!! not a fact!! Anybody can claim anything!!
These were the excerpts from one of the thought provoking article! Now it all adds up!
– I don’t know if BJP will come back in power or not! I am not sure!
Since Dalits are being convinced that Modi is against them,
Jats are being convinced that Modi is against them,
Marathas are being convinced that Modi is against them,
Farmers are being convinced that Modi is against them and
Muslims are being convinced that Modi was always against them!
Massive propaganda of Hate spreading through print, electronic and social media!
All this will surely have some effect.
– Many out of 1.4 billion of us are not well informed; some informed are idealistic; some informed are selfish; some informed are 18 year old and *haven’t really experienced old governments; some informed are too busy to get into quarrel; some informed don’t want to get labelled as Bhakt!
MODI MAY FALL! *But, it will not be Modi who will actually fall* India will then FALL*
Final tally will decide the PM candidate! There will be a dirty fight within the coalition for the chair of PM and important portfolios! There will be hard negotiations and dirty bargains for railway, coal, telecom and infra ministries, *not to make it better but to reap benefits out of it!* All the good work done by People like Piyush Goel, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Manohar Parrikar, Nirmala Sitharaman under able leadership of Modi will get directional deflection or break!
There will still be communal tensions, *(It is the upbringing of this society for last 70 years; everyone has been painted and labelled and it’s bound to happen!)*. But they will not be ‘news’ anymore!
*Dalits and Muslims will still remain backward* and a vote bank (It’s for both the communities to introspect, *why they are backward even after 70 years in spite of being a vote bank!)*, farmers may be gifted with loan waiver to make them bankrupt in another five years! People like Mr. Ravish Kumar will do another episode with black screen to appear intellectual of intellectuals! Critics will keep criticizing governments. *There will not be discipline, there will not be targets, there will not be follow up!* Ministers of different parties will behave like independent kings and will not be answerable to any authority! *Corruption will increase to crazy levels!* Meanwhile China is getting stronger everyday, it will snatch the title of super power from US very soon! Hence massive geopolitical challenges ahead! There might be a war over water in near future! We need to earn more money, strengthen ourselves, that’s the way to avoide the war! Trade wars! Russia’s empty pockets and China’s deep pockets!
*Who is good enough to handle this situation for the good of 1.4 billion people!?* The great Rahul Gandhi? Psycho Arvind Kejriwal (Whom, I have worshiped like a god for a good three years!)? Fool Kanhaiyya ?
Dirty coalition will give ugly break to the present growth momentum. What will Dalit achieve out of this and what will Muslims get!? Will Maratha’s and jat’s get reservation!? Will farmers’ suicides be stopped? what is the reason farmers started committing suicide in first place? That day people will say, Modi was Good”. That will not repair the situation!
Modi has been working on long term and concrete solutions for collective good! Everyone will be at benefit in long term, not realizing it and not keeping patience will take us further away from the dream ‘Antyoday’!
Modi is a human and can not yield answer to chronic problems created over past 70 years in 4 years! Have practical expectation, understand the constraints and limitations of largest democracy and then pass the judgement on Modi! The job is not as easy as Kunal Kamra to make people laugh by saying “Hamere jawan seema pe lad rahein hain..” I have been following Defence Ministry since last 10 years very closely and this government has done phenomenal work, which normal public is not aware of! And *when cheap people like Kunal Kamra makes fun of the work done and send wrong message across, my blood boils….*
All this will not lead to fall of Modi but fall of Republic of India! We will loose a leader who is strong, progressive, hard and smart working and doesn’t fear to take the right decision by worrying about vote banks! The same vicious cycle will continue which held us back from being great for so many years, inspite of having all the resources to become greatest of all!
It’s the duty of every informed Dalit, Maratha, Jat and Muslim to inform people with the truth and explain the situation and consequences, else fall is sure!
I am a Maratha by cast and I keep receiving msgs in family and community Whats App groups that Modi and his party is against our community and uninformed people fall for it! And I feel pity on the people who are doing this propaganda and people falling for it. As Voltaire said, *I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than 200 rats of my own species*
Modi will be engraved in history as a glorified soldier who did everything he could do for good of his land! Alas! His own people couldn’t understand it!
As Marcus Cicero said,
“I have always been of the opinion, that *unpopularity, earned by doing what is right, is not unpopularity at all, but glory*”*
We live in a quick fix society! Everyone is yelling where is the growth!? Where are the benefits of Demonetization, all the currency is back!? Where are the benefits of Swacch Bharat, my colony is still dirty!? Where are the benefits of Make In India, we still buy Chinese manufactured phone! Where are the 15 lakhs!?
Poor souls! I hope they will come across the story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree someday!
I followed UPA1 & UPA2 very closely, read and educated myself a lot about India and it’s problems and what kind of mess India is, I learned about limitations and constraints created over past 70 years and when I saw Modiji handling this mess so well in the backdrop of a prejudice, hatred & criticism, *my respect for him has grown in multiple folds*!
Modi has done amazing hard and smart work on so many fronts and I am so grateful to him for what he has done and achieved in past 4 years! Of course there are few mistakes, but can anything in this world ever be perfectly flawless!? For example, I never understood the ‘COW’ issue, but do we know what kind of pressure must be there on him from within the party!
In a family or any small or big organisation, there will always be some people who we know are wrong and culprit for some mess, but we can’t help but to tolerate them at the cost of the unity of the family or at the cost of some bigger advantage in the case of organisation!
One thing for sure, even critics will praise Modi someday, but it will be of no use then
I only hope that better sense prevails amongst Indian people & they Vote Modi back to power in 2019*