Unease in BJP as Mining baron Janardhana Reddy set to launch new party

Team Udayavani, Dec 12, 2022, 4:37 PM IST

Bengaluru: Former BJP leader and mining baron, Gali Janardhana Reddy is all set to launch his new party ahead of the Assembly polls in the state. This move has given BJP the jitters.

Sources close to Janardhana Reddy said that he had already decided to launch a new party called ‘Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha’. They also said that he was leaving for New Delhi to get his party registered with the Election Commission.

The saffron party, which once groomed Reddy brothers, had been maintaining a distance for some time. Mining baron Janardhana Reddy was jailed in 2018 and restrictions were imposed upon his entry to his home district, Ballari.

Reddy and his brothers have been unhappy with their treatment by the saffron party and have made this clear many times. Recently Reddy had gone to New Delhi and attempted to share his displeasure to the BJP central leaders.

The BJP has made B. Sriramulu as the Minister for Transport after shunting him out as the Health Minister. The party has not made any concrete promise regarding the positions and future of Janardhana Reddy in the state politics.

Now, with Janardhana Reddy all set to launch his new party, BJP Karnataka unit is worried and leaders have requested the high command to somehow talk to him and pacify him.

The BJP insiders said that if Janardhana Reddy launches his party, the BJP’s chances of winning in at least 20 Assembly seats would be seriously affected.

Reddy’s daughter’s grand marriage ceremony in Bengaluru at the time when the central BJP had imposed the note ban in 2016 had embarrassed the party. Sources close to Janardhana Reddy said that he is all set for second innings in politics.

Snubbed by the BJP, Reddy has already shifted to Gangavathy in Koppal district and started working for his comeback from there leaving the ruling BJP worried. Revenue Minister R. Ashok had maintained that Reddy won’t launch a new party. However, though Reddy has not made any official statement in this regard, preparations are clearly suggesting that he is serious about his political move.

(With inputs from IANS)