Yuva Morcha leader and nephew of Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, Tejasvi Surya is BJP’s shock candidate choice for Bangalore South, while former MLC CS Ashwath Narayan has been selected for Bangalore Rural.
The decision announced late Monday night ends wide speculation around the electoral debut of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, the wife of late sitting MP Ananth Kumar. Tejaswini had been recommended for the seat by the state party unit.
In anticipation of the party’s choice, Tejaswini had tweeted on Monday afternoon to reaffirm her commitment to the BJP.
"Today hundreds of our anxious well wishers & BJP karyakartas visited our house.
I told them AnanthKumar ji always believed in:
Nation First, Party Next, I Last.
On the same lines let's all abide by the decision of the central leadership & work towards,” she tweeted.
Today hundreds of our anxious well wishers & BJP karyakartas visited our house.
— Chowkidar Tejaswini AnanthKumar (@Tej_AnanthKumar) March 25, 2019
I told them AnanthKumar ji always believed in:
Nation First, Party Next, I Last.
On the same lines let's all abide by the decision of the central leadership & work towards#NamoAgain #ಮೋದಿಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ pic.twitter.com/60JGcnQVAD
Ananth Kumar had been the MP from the Bangalore South seat from 1996 to his death on November 12, 2018. He had won by a handsome margin of more than two lakh votes against Congress candidate and technocrat Nandan Nilekani in 2014.
The decision comes with less than a day left for filing nominations for the April 18 elections, which is the first phase of elections in Karnataka. Even while speaking to TNM on Sunday, Tejasvi had said he was surprised by the possibility of his candidacy.
“A week ago, I had also tweeted in her (Tejaswini’s) support. I was taken aback when I heard my name was being suggested,” he said.
He will face Congress Rajya Sabha member BK Hariprasad, known to be a confidante of the Gandhis.
However a BJP source had told TNM that he was among the favourites. “Tejasvi Surya has been a member of the BJP for a while and he has worked for the party. His family members have been part of the RSS and are from the Brahmin community. He has good oratory skills and is better than Tejaswini. Besides, he has experience handling political affairs,” the source said.
In Bangalore Rural, the party has gone with party spokesperson Ashwath Narayana Gowda, also a former MLC. Speculation was rife that the BJP will field cinestar Nisha, daughter of BJP leader CP Yogeshwar. Ashwath Narayana will face DK Suresh, brother of Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar and Congress’ troubleshooter in chief.
In 2014, DK Suresh won by a big margin of more than 2.3 lakh votes defeating BJP’s Muniraju Gowda. However, what might work in favour of the BJP is the lack of chemistry between the grassroot workers of previous archrivals JD(S) and Congress within the seat.