A passing remark that a BJP minister in Karnataka made a couple of days ago, that he is not opposed to seeing Congress leader Siddaramaiah as chief minister of Karnataka, has resulted in some amount of hair-splitting over the political context and purpose of the statement. Two days ago, while speaking at an event organised by the Ballari Kuruba Sangha (Siddaramaiah belongs to the backward Kuruba community), Karnataka Transport Minister B Sreeramulu said the community should not see him as an opponent since he also wished to see their community leader Siddaramaiah return as CM. “Do you think I am opposed to the Kurubas? I am not opposed to Siddaramaiah. Even I am of the view that he should become the CM if the opportunity presents itself. If you ask Siddaramaiah, he will also say that Ramulu should become CM. In this large political system we have to make alliances, these are all political strategies,” the BJP minister said, while claiming that he had helped Siddaramaiah win polls in 2018. Siddaramaiah, then contesting as the incumbent CM, had defeated Sreeramulu from the Badami seat. The statement has seen different interpretations in political circles, which are at an edge over the coming Assembly elections. Congress leaders argued that Sreeramulu was trying to regain prominence in the BJP, where he has lost clout since the 2018 state polls; others viewed it as a sign of the growing weakness of the BJP in Karnataka with no leader in control of the party; while Sreeramulu himself claimed that the remarks were actually an indirect call to all backward communities to unite under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the BJP clearly did not take the remarks lightly, with Sreeramulu summoned to the party headquarters in Bengaluru soon after and reportedly asked for an explanation. BJP leaders officially did not say anything. A member of the Valmiki Nayak Scheduled Tribe community in Karnataka, Sreeramulu's rise from being a local Ballari leader with the image of a hooligan to one of the BJP's prominent faces is atttributed to mentorship of the Reddy brothers of Ballari – specifically Janardhan Reddy. This growth coincided with the 2004 to 2012 period when the Reddys gained control of the iron ore-rich Ballari, allegedly through illegal means. With the Ballari region having a sizeable population of Valmiki Nayaks, Sreeramulu emerged as a political face of both the BJP and the Reddy mining barons. His standing in the party remained largely unscathed even as the Reddy brothers fell out of favour after the illegal mining scam broke. Sreeramulu soon also became one of the BJP's chief campaigners among Valmiki Nayaks, not just in the Ballari and Chitradurga regions, but across Karnataka. In the 2018 elections, he was virtually entrusted with the responsibility of winning 15-20 seats in the ST belt for the party. However, the BJP was disappointed. In Ballari itself, where six of eight seats are reserved for SC/STs, the BJP won a total of three. While he won from the ST reserved Molakalmuru seat in Chitradurga, Sreeramulu lost from Badami to Siddaramaiah. This was a blow as Badami has a nearly equal number of ST and Kuruba votes (30% each). Neither Sreeramulu nor Siddaramaiah is expected to contest from Badami in 2023. The 2018 results saw the BJP fall short of a majority, thwarting its hopes of forming a government. It came to power a year later after defection of Congress MLAs. Following this, Sreeramulu's slide in the BJP began, even as the stock of other ST leaders like Ramesh Jarkiholi – among the Congress MLAs who crossed over to the BJP - rose. The BJP has also propped up mining businessman-turned-politician Anand Singh – a former member of the Ballari Reddy brothers group – in the Ballari region by carving out the Vijayanagara district out of Ballari, as reportedly sought by Singh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Sreeramulu was snubbed when, ignoring his appeal for a ticket for his sister and former MP J Shantha from Ballari, the BJP preferred a close relative of Jarkiholi. The latter has since run into his own spot of trouble with the party, and was removed from the Karnataka Cabinet over an alleged honey trap set by a Congress leader. Sreeramulu is betting on a proposal to provide Valmiki Nayaks increased reservations from 3 to 7.5%. While the BJP hopes this will help it counterbalance the hold of the dominant Lingayat community in the state, led by veteran B S Yediyurappa, the success of the move is doubtful given competing claims by other communities for increase in reservations and the ceiling of 50%. In his “explanation” for the remarks on Siddaramaiah, Sreeramulu told reporters soon after his visit to the BJP office: “What I was trying to say is that we lost some of the 120 seats where I had worked (in 2018) because I was not able to spend enough time campaigning in those places. PM Modi is trying to unite all backward classes. My intention is that leaders of backward classes, SCs and STs must unite, even those in the Congress, and leave and join the BJP.” The Transport Minister added that he mentioned Siddaramaiah specifically due to rumours suggesting he was not happy in the party. Congress leader Sathish Jarkiholi, a Valmiki Nayak leader like Sreeramulu, sought to explain the matter saying the BJP was scared following the grand celebrations for Siddaramaiah's birthday recently.
