BJP's Surya files papers for Bangalore South, as state unit is

BJP's Tejaswi Surya Tuesday filed his nomination for Bengaluru south constituency, as his choice took the party state unit by surprise with the widow of union minister Ananth Kumar being denied the ticket.

The party sprang a surprise by giving the ticket to 28-year-old Surya, an advocate and the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha general secretary, belying expectations that Tejaswini Ananth Kumar would be its choice for the constituency that her husband represented six times.

As Surya filed the nominations to take on senior Congress leader B K Hari Prasad, he was accompanied only by one MLA Uday Garudachar and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, with other lawmakers from Bangalore South conspicuous by their absence.

The announcement of Surya's name in the wee hours of Tuesday surprised the state leadership itself as the Karnataka unit had recommended only the name of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar.

"We had sent only one name. It was changed in Delhi," said state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa.

State senior BJP leader R Ashoka said "The only name our Karnataka core committee sent to the high command was of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, but the central leaders denied her a ticket.

I don't know why they changed our decision.

State president B S Yeddyurappa, myself and the party workers will abide by the decision and work for our victory," said Ashok."