The year was 1999, and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj decided to contest against Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Bellary, Karnataka. Sushma lost, but here she got Gali Karunakar Reddy, Gali Janardhana Reddy, and Gali Somasekhara Reddy. After this, every year for 10 consecutive years, Sushma used to go to worship Vara Mahalakshmi in Bellary. Reddy Bhai used to call Sushma Thai i.e. mother.
Nothing is the same anymore, Mr. Janardhan Reddy seems to be becoming a problem for the BJP this time in Karnataka. He has formed a new party Kalyan Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) and has announced to contest in the elections. Two of his MLA brothers Karunakar Reddy and Somashekar Reddy are currently in the BJP. His special friend Sriramulu is also a minister in the BJP government in Karnataka. Janardhana Reddy is the strongest of the three brothers. The head of the business is also the same.
Janardhan Reddy returns from jail, angry with BJP
The story of Sushma and the Reddy brothers got derailed when the entry of Justice Santosh Hegde, who was the Lokayukta in Karnataka, took place. He said in his report that the Reddy brothers had illegally exported iron ore worth about Rs 16,500 crore to China from 10 ports in the country through illegal mining. After these allegations, Sushma made it clear by sending a message to the Reddy brothers in the year 2011 that she was no longer their ‘mother’.
In 2018, the BJP distanced itself from Janardhana Reddy, who had been jailed in an illegal mining case. Then Amit Shah was said to be especially angry with him. The Reddy brothers are called the kings of the mining business in Karnataka. Even now in the Karnataka border area adjacent to Andhra Pradesh, they are said to have a good influence.
‘Started election preparations from 2018 itself’
A close leader of Janardhana Reddy, while not disclosing the name, said that we had started election preparations in 2018 itself. Created social media pages, and got ground surveys done. A new party has been formed only after getting the results of the survey. Janardhan Reddy will contest from Gangavathi, its decision has also been taken according to the results of the survey.
Senior journalist Mahesh Godar says- ‘The Reddy community is the decision maker in Gangavati. There is Janardhana Reddy’s influence also, so he can win Gangavathi. It can also be gauged from the fact that on the same day, he announced to contest from Gangavati, the sitting MLA of BJP went to meet the organization minister.
According to senior journalist Ashok Chandargi, ‘Whenever a leader has formed a new party after getting angry with the ruling party in the state, then the party running the government has been defeated. In 1983, S. Bangarappa broke away from Congress and formed the Karnataka Kranti Ranga Dal. At that time he supported the Janata Party and for the first time, a non-Congress government was formed in Karnataka.
Yeddyurappa and Reddy’s brothers never made up
In 2012, BS Yeddyurappa formed the Karnataka Janata Party after getting angry with the BJP. The result of this was that in 2013 the BJP was thrown out of power and the Congress got the victory. Similarly, this time Janardhana Reddy has formed a new party. Everyone knows that they will not win the election, but even if they get 4 to 5% votes, then the math of winning and losing will change in many seats. Janardhan Reddy has a stronghold in Bellary, Vijayanagar, Koppal, Raichur, Yadgir, and Bidar.
A leader close to Janardhan Reddy told that ‘We will give tickets to those people, whose tickets will be cut from BJP and Congress. After the names of the candidates are finalized, the disgruntled leaders themselves will approach our party, because those who will be given tickets will also be given Rs 5 crore each to contest the elections. If the party wins even 8 to 10 seats, it will come into the role of kingmaker. That’s why there is no hurry in finalizing the names of the candidates. The decision has not yet been taken on how many seats the party will contest.
Reddy brought BJP to the government for the first time through Operation Lotus
Even though there has been a rift in the relationship between Janardhan Reddy and BJP, Janardhan Reddy played the biggest role in helping BJP taste power for the first time in Karnataka. In 2008, BJP won 110 out of 224 seats. The party needed only 3 seats for a majority. With the help of the Reddy brothers, BJP got three Congress MLAs and four JDS MLAs to resign. These MLAs had joined BJP.
In the by-elections, 5 out of 7 BJP candidates won and the party’s tally reached 115. Reddy Brothers were accused of breaking the MLAs. BJP remained in power from 2008 to 2013. During this, he had to change three chief ministers. This was the period when Reddy’s huge empire started crumbling. In 2011, he was arrested in a mining scam worth 16 thousand of crores. At that time there was UPA government at the center.
Not only in Karnataka, catch in Andhra Pradesh too
The Reddy brothers have a stronghold not only in Karnataka but also in Andhra Pradesh. He had very good relations with YSR Reddy, who was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In 2001, he started the Obulapuram Mining Company with an investment of Rs 10 lakh. Since then he was active in the business of mining in Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh. In 5 years the turnover of his company had become Rs 3 thousand crore.
In 2006, Janardhana Reddy took a direct entry into politics. Then the BJP elected him to the Karnataka Legislative Council. In 2008, Janardhan became a minister in the Yeddyurappa government along with his two brothers and friend Sriramulu. Within a year of becoming a minister, he completely controlled the mining business in Bellary.
In the case of illegal mining, Janardhana Reddy is surrounded by allegations in both states. Journalist Chandargi says Reddy’s troubles started after the death of Congress leader YSR Reddy in a helicopter crash in Andhra Pradesh in 2009. After this, the matter of taking mines by threatening the forest officers reached the Supreme Court.
After heavy criticism, the Andhra Pradesh government had to form a three-member committee to investigate Reddy. It was on the basis of this committee’s report that the CBI arrested Reddy in 2011 from his home in Bellary. In the same year, Karnataka’s Lokayukta Santosh Hegde also opened a front against Reddy’s illegal mining business. He had told in his report that the state had suffered a loss of Rs 25,000 crore due to illegal mining in Reddy.
Janardhana Reddy had to resign from the Yeddyurappa government because of these allegations. 10 to 12 cases of illegal mining are going on against him in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. He remained in jail till 2015. Even now the trial is going on in the court in the illegal mining case. However, he has been denying all the allegations.
BJP said – Reddy’s formation of the party does not matter
Karnataka BJP spokesperson Captain Ganesh Karnik says that Janardhana Reddy has influence in a very limited area of Karnataka. He was not with us even in the last election, yet we won the election. That’s why BJP doesn’t care about his forming a new party and fighting.
In Karnataka, in the last 20-25 years, many leaders contested elections by forming new parties, but there was no direct effect of this. There were many reasons for our defeat in 2013. We won 110 seats in 2008 and 104 in 2018, this time our target is to win 135 to 150 seats.
On the other hand, Dhruv Narayan, the working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, says that ‘Janardan Reddy has been associated with the BJP, so his formation of a new party will harm the BJP. Party workers will be divided, Congress can get benefit from this. Although his two brothers and minister friends are still in BJP, it is not understood why he formed a new party.
Father was a constable, the family migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka
Born in a middle-class family, Janardhan Reddy’s father was a constable in the police. He came to Bellary from Andhra Pradesh after independence. Both Janardhan’s brothers are graduates but have studied only till high school. He became active in the finance business in 1990 and formed an investment company.
It was at this time that he came in contact with Sriramulu, who is currently the Minister for Transport and Tribal Welfare in the Government of Karnataka. Initially, the Reddy brothers were in Congress, but in the 1999 elections, Sriramulu was denied a ticket by Congress. After this Sriramulu joined BJP along with the Reddy brothers.
The year 1999 was the turning point, became close to Sushma
The year 1999 was a turning point for the Reddy brothers. Then there was a high-voltage election battle on the Bellary seat. The contest was between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. Bellary was a Congress bastion at that time. Janardhana Reddy exerted all his might to make Sushma Swaraj win.
Sushma could not win, but after this election, the Reddy brothers became very close to Sushma. They started calling her mother. Sonia Gandhi distanced herself from Bellary after the victory, but Sushma Swaraj remained active and played an important role in making political careers of leaders like Janardhana Reddy, and Sriramulu.
