Udhagamandalam: Suspense and speculation of the last few days,relating to the choice of the BJP for representing the party in the prestigious Udhagamandalam assembly constituency,ended on a relatively surprising note around noon on Wednesday.

The party made it known that its candidate would be M.Bhojarajan.A prominent member of the planting community,Kotagiri based Bhojarajan is an advocate,who early in the 1980s had made an attempt in vain to become a member of parliament on a congress ticket.

The ticket having gone to R.Prabhu,a Coimbatore based congressman Bhojarajan moved into other areas of social service as a frontline member of the Lions movement and into the tea sector as a leading promoter of the Nilgiris tea both in its leaf and processed forms.

He also represented the Nilgiris on the Tea Board.

The veteran planter will cross swords with another advocate R.Ganesh of the Congress.A member of the last assembly, he has been chosen once again by the grand old party.He will leave no stone unturned in trying to retain his seat.Both Bhojarajan and Ganesh are Badagas.

Among the others in the race,so far are S.Suresh Babu of the Makkal Needhi Maiyam,Manjai V Mohan of the Badaga Desam Party,also Badagas and Jayakumar of Naam Thamizhar Katchi.