NEW DELHI: The BJP on Tuesday issued its ninth list of four candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, denying ticket to Union Minister Rajen Gohain from Nowgong in Assam and fielding 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya from the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha seat.
After a meeting of the Central Election Committee presided over by BJP President Amit Shah and attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party released the names of two candidates for Karnataka and one each for Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
With this, party has named 310 candidates. Gohain, who has been representing Nowgong since 1999, has been replaced by local MLA legislator Rupak Sarmah. A prominent businessman of Nagaon town, Sarmah is popular in the cultural world and he used to play musical instruments with musician and singer Zubeen Garg.
He will take on former Minister and senior Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi, who used to be a legislator from Margherita constituency and lost the 2016 Assembly polls to the BJP.
In Karnataka, the BJP has finalised Surya's candidature from Bengaluru South seat. A Karnataka BJP Yuva Morcha General Secretary, Surya is considered to be a protege of the Rashtriya SwayamSevak Sangh (RSS).
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The surprise selection of the "young turk" dashed the hopes of Tejaswini, the widow of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar who wanted to contest from the high-profile seat which her husband had won for a record six times since 1996.
"OMG OMG! I can't believe this. PM of world's largest democracy and President of largest political party have reposed faith in a 28-year-old guy to represent them in a constituency as prestigious as Bengaluru South.
"This can happen only in my BJP. Only in #NewIndia of @narendramodi," tweeted Surya. The Congress' Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariprasad, named on Monday, will be up against Surya.
The BJP also named Aswath Narain as its candidate from Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency against sitting Congress member D.K. Suresh, who is re-contesting for a second time.
Rajveer Singh Balmiki, an MLA from Iglas Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has been fielded from Hathras (SC) Lok Sabha seat, once represented by his father.
The BJP has fielded Sanat Gadtia from Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha against Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik. The Odisha Assembly polls will be held along with the parliamentary elections.