BENGALURU: All of 28 years old, Tejasvi Surya pipped half a dozen contenders including Tejaswini Ananth Kumar - wife of former Union minister and senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar - to emerge as the party's candidate from Bangalore South in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Despite dissenting notes within the party, Surya filed his nomination to contest the April 18 polls and will take on the Congress-JD(S) alliance's candidate BK Hariprasad.
After days of suspense on the Bangalore South candidate, the BJP finally announced Surya's name, disappointing cadres and state leaders who had batted for Tejaswini Ananth Kumar.
While the 53-year-old social worker, who had already begun campaigning from the seat, appealed to her supporters to abide by the party's decision, tense moments were witnessed as workers shouted slogans against Surya, asking him to withdraw from the race.
Party insiders suggest that the decision to pick Surya, nephew of the party's MLA from Basavangudi Ravi Subramanya, is in line with its strategy of infusing young blood into the party ranks.
A popular face of the BJP on social media and television debates, Surya, a law graduate, was also in the ABVP before going on to become general secretary of the youth wing of the BJP - Yuva Morcha.
"OMG OMG!!! I can't believe this.
PM of world's largest democracy & President of largest political party have reposed faith in a 28 yr old guy to represent them in a constituency as prestigious as B'lore South. This can happen only in my BJP. Only in #NewIndia of @narendramodi" (sic) is how the youngster reacted after the news of his candidature became official.
Surya thanked all the leaders from the state and central BJP for the opportunity. While his candidature is expected to make local leaders uncomfortable, it is unlikely to affect the vote share of the BJP, believe party insiders.