Old Photo of BJP’s Tejasvi Surya Posing With Weapons Resurfaces
The photo is from the 2016 Ayudha Pooja celebrations.
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CLAIM
A photo of the newly announced BJP candidate from Karnataka's Bengaluru South constituency is viral on social media. In the photo, Surya, wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, is seen posing with weapons, painting numbers on them.
The photo has been shared quite widely across social media, especially after the announcement of his candidature.
TRUE OR FALSE
A reverse image search threw up a blog post written by a certain Rilwan Husain Valal, where the photo had been used.
When The Quint reached out to Rilwan to enquire about the origin of the photo, he clarified that the photo had been clicked in 2016 during the Ayudha Pooja celebrations.
Ayudha Pooja is observed in several southern states as part of the Navratri celebrations when people worship weapons and tools.
Taking this as cue, we searched Surya's social media accounts for this particular photo. Sure enough, Surya had responded to someone on 14 July 2017, stating that the photo had been taken on Ayudha Pooja at his coffee estate.
On Surya's Facebook profile, we found another photo of him in the same attire, leaning against a car.
This photo was clicked on 10 October 2016, which was when Ayudha Pooja was celebrated that particular year.
WHO IS TEJASVI SURYA?
Having earlier gone viral in 2017, this photo appears to have resurfaced after the BJP announced Surya as the candidate for the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency.
A fiery orator, Surya is considered to be a protege of the party's right-wing parent organisation – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He is currently the general secretary of the BJP’s Youth wing in Karnataka and a practicing lawyer at the High Court.
The surprise selection of the "young turk" dashes hopes of Tejaswini, widow of late Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister HN Ananth Kumar, contesting from the high-profile seat, which her husband had won for a record six times since 1996.
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