BENGALURU: When 52-year-old Hemalatha Nayak, BJP State Secretary and former president of Koppal District BJP Mahila Morcha, woke up on Tuesday morning in Koppal, she had no clue what destiny had in store for her.
As she was getting ready to leave for Haveri, where she was one among the in-charges for a party event, she received a call at 10 am from “a certain BJP leader” from Bengaluru asking her to rush to the state capital to be in time to file her nomination for Legislative Council elections by MLAs scheduled for June 3. She was asked to be at Vidhana Soudha before 3 pm on Tuesday, the deadline by which nominations had to be filed.
With the clock ticking, a baffled Hemalatha made her way to Bengaluru, but had to be airlifted by a helicopter from Tumakuru to Jakkur to beat the traffic to arrive at Vidhana Soudha at 2.15 pm — with just 45 minutes to spare.
Former minister Laxman Savadi, S Keshavaprasad and Chaluvadi Narayanswamy of BJP also filed nomination papers on Tuesday. Although speculation was rife about finalising the names of Geetha Vivekananda, BJP Mahila Morcha President, and C Manjula, BJP spokesperson and former chairperson of the Karnataka State Women’s Commission, Hemalatha turned out to be the dark horse.
Nagaraja Yadav and Abdul Jabbar of Congress and TA Sharavana of JDS also filed nominations for the June 3 elections to the council.
Hemalatha’s nomination filing by far most dramatic
But Hemalatha’s nomination filing was by far the most dramatic. Chandrashekar Gouda Patil Halageri, party leader from Koppal who accompanied Hemalatha from Koppal to Bengaluru, said after they got to know at 10 am on Tuesday, they left by car for Bengaluru at about 10.30 am. The distance between Koppala and Bengaluru is around 350 km, taking four hours and 30 minutes.
“By the time we reached Tumakuru, it was already 1 pm,” he said. But the party made arrangements for a private helicopter to airlift Hemalatha to Jakkur aerodrome in Bengaluru. They had to wait for 20 minutes at Tumakuru before the chopper was ready.
Although the distance between Tumakuru and Bengaluru is just around 70 km, it was the traffic on the road that was the most feared to delay them. “When we landed in Jakkur, it was already 1.45 pm and from here we took a car to Vidhana Soudha where we reached at 2.15 pm.
We were happy to make it on time,’’ Halageri said. BJP can comfortably ensure victory of four candidates, while Congress can get two of its candidates elected and JDS will get one seat. Hemalatha joined BJP in 2011 along with the present Koppal MP from BJP Sanganna Karadi. Both were earlier associated with JDS. Hemalatha told TNI E that this was totally unexpected.
“This shows how BJP recognises grassroot party workers even from a far off place like Koppal. The party recognised my work. Neither recommendations nor influence works here (in BJP), only the work,’’ she said. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree, and is known for her organisational skills.
BJP MLA Ravi Subramanya, who was with Hemalatha while submitting her nomination, said by selecting her, the party has given importance to region, caste and cadre. “By picking a party worker, it will inspire many more,” he said.
BUJP high command denies ticket to by vijayendra
the bjp’s central leadership has ignored the recommendation made by party’s karnataka unit to field former chief minister bs yediyurappa’s son by vijayendra in the june 3 mlc polls. as his supporters began to criticise the decision of the high command, vijayendra himself had to intervene to control the damage with an appeal on social media. he said power and position are not the ultimate objectives in politics.