Did BJP's chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa violate party president Amit Shah's diktat by sharing the dais with the tainted former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy?
In less than a month after Shah claimed that the BJP had “nothing to do” with the mining baron, Yeddyurappa shared the stage with Reddy at Molkalmuru in Chitradurga district on Saturday, during the road show preceding the filing of nomination by party candidate and Reddy's close aide B. Sriramulu.
On March 31, Shah, who was touring the Old Mysuru region, had said that “BJP has no connection with Janardhan Reddy”, during a press meet. However, Yeddyurappa welcoming Reddy on the dais, and the BJP issuing tickets to Janardhan Reddy's brothers – Somashekhar Reddy (Ballari City) and Karunakar Reddy (Harapanahalli), only goes to show that the BJP is in no mood to severe its ties with Reddy, especially in an election year.
In a surprise move, the BJP fielded Bellary MP and a powerful Valmiki leader B. Sriramulu from Molkalmuru, in a bid to consolidate the decisive ST votes in the region. Incidentally, Janardhan Reddy, an accused in the multi-crore mining scam who is out on bail, has shifted his residence from Bellary to Molkalmuru (a border town) following the court order restricting his entry into Bellary district. Reddy has announced that he would campaign for his friend and ensure his victory.
Interestingly, the BJP central leadership, which is wary of Yeddyurappa's own tainted image, had tried to tactfully project its party chief ministers – Raman Singh (Chattisgarh) and Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) in Karnataka, as a model for “good governance” and “clean image” ahead of the polls. While Raman Singh accompanied Yeddyurappa on the day of his filing the nomination in Shikaripura, Chauhan attended the rally in Molkalmuru. However, the state unit slowly gravitating towards Reddy, is sure a cause for concern to the party leadership.
In fact Shah, in an interview to a private channel recently had said that a BJP government in Karnataka under the Modi regime would be a lot different from the party's stint in power in 2008.