Shantha who? Thats a question that comes up often with regard to 36-year-old Joladarashi Shantha,the only woman BJP candidate to be elected from Karnataka in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The Bellary MP,a complete political novice,finds herself pitched as the female representative of the Reddy camp in the current political battle between the Reddy brothers and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa An unknown housewife until six months ago,the sister of Karnataka Health Minister and a staunch supporter of the Reddys,38-year-old B Sreeramulu,Shantha is being put forth as a counter to Yeddyurappa confidante and the only woman minister in the Karnataka BJP government Shobha Karandlaje. Shantha,who has done little of note since winning the parliamentary polls by a wafer thin margin in the impoverished Bellary constituency where her brother and the Reddy brothers rule the roost on account of their mining fortunes,gave Shobha Karandlaje an unexpected tongue lashing in the heat of the current crisis. Keep your mouth shut, was Shanthas message to Shobha,after the CMs aide claimed she had nothing to do with the events which led up to the crisis. Shobha has refused to react to Shanthas claim that she is to blame for the crisis. The platform for Shanthas entry into politics was laid when the Bellary parliamentary seat was reserved as a Scheduled Tribe constituency after delimitation. The Reddy brothers who control all the legislative assembly constituencies in the Bellary district were reportedly looking for a Scheduled Tribe candidate who could help them retain the district with G Karunakar Reddy being the previous incumbent. The initial plan revolved around getting B Sreeramulu himself to quit his Bellary reserved Assembly seat to contest the parliamentary polls in order to keep the constituency in the control of the Reddy group. Sreeramulu,who has a police record,but who is seen by many people as a chief ministerial candidate of the Reddys on account of his mass base in the sizable Valmiki Nayak Scheduled Tribe community,was reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha polls. According to Shantha,Sushma Swaraj,who attends Varamahalakshmi poojas organised by the Reddys in Bellary every year since the brothers and Sreeramulu helped her Bellary election campaign 10 years ago,reportedly told the Reddy brothers to put up a woman candidate and suggested Shanthas name. While much of her campaign was carried out by Sreeramulu,Shantha claims to have covered every village in the district nearly a month ahead of the polls. Her narrow 2,000-vote margin of victory came as a surprise and stands testimony to the fact that the Reddys do not have an established vote base in Bellary despite their money power.
