Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018: The significance of Bellary in Karnataka politics

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 

The significance of Bellary in Karnataka politics

By Deepak Parvatiyar

The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 7th May 2018

http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/viewpage.php?edn=Aurangabad&date=2018-05-08&edid=PUDHARI_AUR&pid=PUDHARI_AUR&pn=5#Article/PUDHARI_AUR_20180508_05_12/279px/1E068D1

  

Bellary district is the part of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which was carved out of the erstwhile Princely State of Hyderabad. It was from here that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had contested and won against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sushma Swaraj in 1999.

In 2013 state elections the entire region, including Bellary, had seen a Congress surge and out of the 40 constituencies in this region, the Congress had won 23 seats from here. The BJP and the JD(S) followed with five seats each while B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had left the BJP to form Karnataka Janata Paksha, had won three seats. Other candidates had then won four seats here.

Little surprise therefore Congress President Rahul Gandhi launched his Karnataka election campaign from Bellary this time.

Bellary assumes greater significance as the district is perhaps best known in recent times for a Rs 16,500-crore mining scam, in which former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhan Reddy is an accused. In 2009, he was sent to jail for being involved in illegal mining of iron ore in Bellary in Karnataka and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. He was granted bail by the SC in January 2015. 

BJP's state president and chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa had then resigned as the Karnataka chief minister in 2011 and was sacked by the BJP after the Lokayukta indicted him in the illegal mining scam.

Obviously this election time, when BS Yeddyurappa is once again back in the BJP fold and is the party’s CM candidate, the BJP needs to improve its tally in the region if it has to return to power in the state. Together, BJP and KJP had a 31 per cent vote share, which would have been just behind Congress’ 35 per cent. This reflected in the 2014 general election, when BJP won nearly two-third Lok Sabha seats in this region, thanks to the BJP-KJP combined vote share.

But for making inroads, the BJP needs to score well in Bellary district which includes the fiercely contested seats in and around Bellary city. The district has eight assembly constituencies -- Hadagali, HB Halli, Vijayanagara, Kampli, Ballari, Ballari City, Sundur and Kudligi. Of these six seats are reserved for SC/ST. In 2013, the BJP had own just one seat in the district while the Congress had won four of these assembly constituencies. Besides, one seat each was won by HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular), B. Sreeramulu’s Badavari Shramikara Raitara Congress (BSRCP) then. Even an Independent, B Nagendra had won the Kudligi seat in the district then.

Political equations have changed since then in Bellary district. While B. Nagendra joined the Congress this year, the BJP accommodated controversial Sreeramulu, who won the Bellary Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate in 2014. His associate Suresh Babu, who had won from Kampli assembly constituency as a BSRCP candidate in 2013, too finally joined the BJP in 2015.

Yet, there is no doubt that the BJP believes that it cannot win Bellary without the “blessings” of the local mining mafia led by the infamous Reddy brothers, and Yeddiuruppa. Keeping all criticisms aside, the party has given tickets to two of the Reddy brothers -- Gali Somashekhara Reddy in Ballary, and his elder brother and former Bellary Lok Sabha member G Karunakara Reddy in Davanagere's Harappanahalli. Even Sriramulu, considered a close associate of the Reddy brothers, is in the fray from two assembly constituencies, Molkalmuru and more significantly Badami, where he is pitted against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress.

Call this the BJP’s political desperation but barring Gali Janardhan Reddy, the party has accommodated all who were earlier indicted in illegal mining activities, including Yeddyurappa, given their strong hold over their caste votes.

 As it is, Gali Somasekhara Reddy is the BJP’s most controversial candidate in the fray this time. He is accused of bribing a judge in the cash-for-bail case that involved his brother G Janardhan Reddy and was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2012.  

When his brother and other associates are in the fray, how could Janardhan maintain a distance? As part of the bail conditions, he was directed by the court not to visit his home town Ballari, besides Ananthapur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. Reports suggest he, being the most influential of the Reddy brothers, has been overseeing the campaign of his siblings as well as the BJP from Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district. Only yesterday, the Supreme Court has turned down is appeal to allow him to campaign for his brother in Ballary.

Given the legal restrictions, the BJP has maintained a distance from Janardhan. However, the party at the moment cannot ignore Bellary and the Reddy brothers. This is evident from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bellary on May 3,  where he put his weight behind Gali Somashekhara Reddy by publicly sharing the stage with him, Sreeramulu and his nephew T H Suresh Babu, who too is an accused in illegal mining, at the District Stadium.

Speaking on the home turf of the Reddy brothers, Modi in fact accused the Congress of consistently defaming Bellary. This was his reply to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who on the eve of the PM’s visit to Bellary had tweeted:  "As you arrive in Bellary, we look forward to hear your commentary on corruption...”

In fact the Congress has repeatedly attacked the BJP for giving tickets to "corrupt" Reddy brothers. But even the Congress has fielded two former aides of the Reddy brothers in Bellari district, both of whom face similar charges of corruption and illegal mining.

Anand Singh, the Congress candidate from Vijaynagara seat was in jail with Janardhan Reddy, considered to be the kingpin of the mining scam. In the nearby Kudligi seat, the Congress has given a ticket to B Nagendra, another former Reddy associate also charged for illegal mining.

Even Anil H Lad, the sitting MLA and Congress candidate against Gali Somasekhara Reddy in Ballary city has a controversial past. In 2015, the Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested him to question him with the illegal export of more than 15,000 tonnes of iron ore from Belekori port near Karwar.