Mining baron Bellary Reddy launches new party, BJP says won’t have an impact

Speculation was rife that Reddy would launch a new political outfit after he met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy earlier this month. Though BJP leaders maintained that he no more had any relationship with the party, Reddy said people across the state believed he was still with the BJP. “That has turned out to be false,” he said, adding that leaving the BJP was a tough decision.

“Reddy has been upset with the way the BJP has been ignoring him for a few years now,” a BJP functionary said, adding that the new outfit may cut into the ruling party’s vote share in certain constituencies, especially in Bellary district. Reddy played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP in the district and is said to still have considerable clout there.

But dismissing the apprehension that Reddy’s party would post a threat to the BJP, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “No regional party has been successful in Karnataka.” Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar said, “Let’s see what will be its impact. I will discuss it with our party leaders.”

Though he has been away from active politics for more than a decade since the CBI first arrested him in 2011 on allegations of illegal mining, Reddy campaigned for incumbent Transport Minister B Sriramulu in 2018 in the constituency of Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district. But ahead of the polls that year, then BJP national president Amit Shah distanced the party from the mining baron, saying, “The BJP has nothing to do with Janardhan Reddy.”

Reddy’s brothers G Karunakara Reddy and G Somashekar Reddy are currently BJP MLAs from the Harapanahalli and Bellary Assembly constituencies, respectively.

The mining baron on Sunday said he would not misuse his friendship to force Sriramulu or his brothers to join his party. “In the days to come, I will travel across Karnataka to organise the new party. The party’s logo and the flag will be revealed in the next 10 to 15 days.”

Calling Reddy “a clever and an experienced” politician, Sriramulu said, “He (Reddy) had been a source of strength for the BJP and the party too had been a source of strength for him. He is someone who makes decisions after a lot of thinking, so I don’t want to debate or analyse his decision.”

The minister went on to say, “I have a bonding of friendship with him (Reddy) that is beyond politics. He must have reached this decision after a lot of thinking. I stood behind him during negotiations between him and the party. Now that he has decided to announce a new party, I will do my politics as per my party’s ideology … it is over now, to convince him anymore.”

State Congress president DK Shivakumar congratulated Reddy. “Let him serve the people and the state, we have no objection if someone wants to serve the people.”

Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy said Reddy’s move was expected. “Let’s see what the developments will be in the future.”

The mining baron was forced to step down as the state tourism minister in 2011 after his firm Obulapuram Mining Company was accused of illegal mining. The CBI arrested him in September 2011 based on a report by the Karnataka Lokayukta. Reddy was arrested for a second time in March 2012 based on the Supreme Court’s directions after another firm owned by him, Associated Mining Company, was found to have committed illegalities.

In November 2015, a Special Investigation Team of the state Lokayukta arrested Reddy for his role in the illegal export of iron ore from the Belekeri port. Granting him relief in 2015, the Supreme Court barred Reddy from entering Bellary, where the alleged mining scam took place. However, the top court allowed him to meet his daughter who at the time had given birth to a girl. Reddy was arrested for the fourth time in connection with an alleged multi-crore Ponzi scam in November 2018, but a magistrate’s court granted him bail, stating that the police failed to provide enough evidence.

This August, the Andhra Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that it had no objection to Obulapuram Mining Company resuming iron ore mining in the Ballari reserve forest.

The state made the submission after the company sought the apex court’s permission to resume mining activities, claiming that “nothing further survives” in the case since the boundary dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka that caused mining to stop had been resolved.