In another major surprise, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has decided to field a young face from Bengaluru South constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Tejasvi Surya, 28, will be the BJP candidate from the area which was supposed to be contested by Tejaswini Ananthkumar, the wife of late Union minister Ananthkumar Hegde, who had won six straight terms from Bengaluru South between 1996 and 2014. Tejaswini Ananthkumar had already started campaigning for the elections.
Surely, this comes as a shocker for many. But does Tejasvi have that many political tricks up his sleeves to stand from Bengaluru South, which has been a BJP territory since 1977?
Who is Tejasvi Surya?
A lawyer by profession, practising at the High Court of Karnataka, Tejasvi is the nephew of BJP MLA Ravi Subramanya, who represents Basavanagudi.
He is the vice-president of the state Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) with strong pro-Hindutva views. He has handled the IT cell of BJP in the state and is a recipient of the prestigious Rashtriya Balashri award at the young age of 12.
He is the founder and president of a social organisation named Arise India and also the secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist party Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Young and mature at the same time, Tejasvi is well-educated and politically eloquent, who can be the BJP's face for the new generation politics in India. Being from a BJP background, he has got good connections with the party's state chief BS Yeddyurappa and other top politicians.
However, the young gun has a clean image as of now, surely politics takes a toll on everyone. But with the fire he has been working in the state, he surely is a promising future for the BJP.
The political kick-off
Even before completing his law degree, Tejasvi had already emerged as the youth icon of BJP. During the 2014 elections, he had campaigned almost all over the state due to the requests of several BJP candidates.
Well active on social media and other public forums, he has always showcased his pro-Hindutva views. He had also called the Congress as a Muslim party in one of his earlier tweets and also said that the BJP should unapologetically be a party for Hindus and must take concrete legislative measures to alleviate Hindu issues.
He expressed his excitement as a BJP candidate in Twitter saying, "I have been blessed with an opportunity to contest as @BJP4India candidate from Bangalore South. I promise to be a committed ambassador of PM Narendra Modi. Join me today as I file my nomination and embark on this new journey.
While Tejasvi is all pumped up about his candidature many from the party has shown their disapproval of denying ticket to Tejaswini Ananthkumar, but she said that for her the nation comes first and party next, quoting her husband.
The party's young candidate will face the Congress veteran, BK Hariprasad, who is contesting from the seat after two decades in the upcoming polls.
Will the young rising star make a difference for the BJP in the current political situation as the party is facing several allegations of corruptions and 'Operation Lotus'? Well, let's wait and watch.
