Bengaluru: A day before Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya filed his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Thursday, April 4, the Karnataka Congress alleged that students of Jain College in Bengaluru were instructed to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s election rally for “attendance”.
“Greetings members Tomorrow all the members of the student council have to assemble near maiyas hotel Jaynagar at 9:00 AM for Tejasvi Surya rally. You’ll be getting T-Shirt so don’t be late. Everyone has to be there at the reporting time and no excuses will be entertained. You will be getting attendance for this. Thank You!” the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) Karnataka posted the screenshot of a message on X allegedly received by a student studying in Jain College on Whatsapp.
Further, the Congress party underlined whether “Surya’s move” is a violation of the code of conduct. “How correct is Tejasvi Surya’s move who instructed the college students to compulsorily attend the political program?? Is there no action against MP Tejasvi Surya who is oppressing students?? Isn’t this a violation of the code of conduct?”
ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಲೇಜು ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳನ್ನು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಆಗಮಿಸಲು ಸೂಚನೆ ನೀಡಿರುವ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ ಸೂರ್ಯ ರವರ ನಡೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಸರಿ??
ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ದಬ್ಬಾಳಿಕೆ ಏರುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸಂಸದ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ ಸೂರ್ಯ ರವರ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ರಮವಿಲ್ಲವೇ??
Advertisementಇದು ನೀತಿ ಸಂಹಿತೆ ಉಲ್ಲಂಗನೆ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ?
@ceo_karnataka @CPBlr #RejectTejasviSurya pic.twitter.com/PIoAn7SJIg— IYC Karnataka (@IYCKarnataka) April 3, 2024
Former MLA Sowmya Reddy, who is fielded by the Congress from the Bengaluru South seat requested Karnataka chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Meena on X to take action against Surya.
Request action to be taken @ceo_karnataka https://t.co/VqYohmb2OB pic.twitter.com/OVWVFVhYi8
— Sowmya | ಸೌಮ್ಯ (@Sowmyareddyr) April 3, 2024
A post from an anonymous handle alleging to be a student of Jain college mentioned on X that messages were shared on the college Whatsapp group regarding Surya’s rally.
Hii , this is Jain college student from vv puram Bengaluru. We are being asked to attend tejaswi surya’s nomination rally tomorrow. These are the screenshots of messages sent in our college group. The student council president is threatening the consequences if absent. pic.twitter.com/GP5wR2ra1g
— knownGhost (@uniqexplorer99) April 3, 2024
Last month, Thakur College of Science and Commerce located in Mumbai’s Kandivali had received “a notice” from Mumbai University (MU) after the college allegedly forced students to attend Dhruv Goyal’s speech, who is the son of Union minister and BJP’s North Mumbai Lok Sabha candidate, Piyush Goyal. As per a Mid-Day report, the university “instructed colleges not to use such events for political promotion or publicity of any related individuals or parties.”
Notably, this is not the first instance when Surya is embroiled in a controversy. On March 22, the Karnataka high court granted relief to the BJP MP after an FIR was registered against him for allegedly trying to disturb communal harmony by posting certain comments on social media about an incident related to the assault on a shopkeeper at Nagarathpet area, over the issue of playing Hanuman Chalisa.
In February 2023, the ministry of civil aviation had confirmed in the Rajya Sabha that passenger, identified by the Congress as Surya, who had opened the emergency exit door of an Indigo flight from Chennai to Trichy on December 10, 2022, was the only one to have done so during the last five years.
