By Firoz.T.Totanawala
The Bangalore Metro Reporter
THE BATTLE OF BELLARY!
BELLARY BY-ELECTIONS BHARTIYA JANATA PARTY V/S BELLARY JANATA PARTY
The Bellary Rural byelection has become a no-holds-barred fight between two BJPs - Bharatiya Janata Party and Bellary Janata Party. With Sriramulu of the Reddy’s camp resigning his Assembly seat and contesting this time as Independent supported by the BJP MPs and MLAs of the region, the fight has become a prestige issue for the D.V.Sadananda Gowda led BJP and the Reddy Brothers. The election results will have an impact on the DVS government itself. While the Congress has fielded Ramprasad, who fought Sriramulu in 2008 elections, the JDS had cleverly kept aloof from the elections. The entry of Yedurappa has further added colours to the event.
The Bellary by-election has assumed a lot of importance as it will redefine the political groups in Karnataka. Further, the release of former CM B.S.Yeddyurappa from jail on bail, has added colour to it. In a way, the fight is between the official Bharatiya Janata Party and the Reddy Brothers’ Bellary Janata Party.
It all started with the arrest of Janardhana Reddy by the CBI, who is in Hyderabad Jail for the last two months. The Reddy Brothers have completely monoplised Bellary, Raichur, Gadag and Chitradurga districts to such extent that BJP in Bellary region was known as Bellary Janata Party.
In fact, the Reddy Brothers have spread the BJP in every nook and corner of the Bellary region. They have won Taluk Panchayats, Zilla Panchayats, Municipal Councils, Bellary Corporation, Lokasabha and Assembly seats to the BJP.
Like Yedurappa who consolidated his lingayat base, the Reddys through Sriramulu consolidated the Valmiki Community which is a major community in Bellary region. The Reddy camp at one point of time, commanded the loyalty of more than 40 MLAs in Yedurappa Government. And Yedurappa on the contrary enjoys the support of about 50 MLAs including ministers and the majority of the loyalists are from lingayat community.
However, the Mining Scam report by the Lokayukta changed the political scenario. Yedurappa, Janardhana Reddy, Karunakara Reddy and Sriramulu were all axed from their respective posts. So, both the feuding factions that of Yedurappa and Reddy camp became powerless.
Interestingly, while Janardhana Reddy was arrested by the CBI and camped in Hyderabad jail, only his own loyalist MPs and MLA’s from Bellary and Andhra Pradesh region visited him. However, when Yedurappa was jailed by the Lokayukta court, in connection with a criminal case against him under PC Act, the whole cabinet and party leaders were on a ‘jail yatra’ to meet and pledge their support to him.
Reddys disgusted with the shabby treatment meted out to them planned to float a regional party and Sriramulu was made the hatchet man. Sriramulu submitted his resignation and while BJP leaders tried to convince him to withdraw it, he remained adamant. His resignation was finally accepted by the Speaker after a delay of more than one and half months and that too after severe criticisms from the opposition.
While the Election Commission announced the holding of the by-elections to Bellary Rural on November 30th, Sriramulu declared that he will contest it as an independent rather than on the BJP ticket. Interestingly, the entire BJP leadership from MPs to Panchayat members from the Bellary region has backed Sriramulu.
Battle lines are drawn and for BJP, it is a question of survival to prove the point that it can survive without the Reddy camp. For the Reddys, it is a question of their survival and they have to prove that they still enjoy the support of Bellary people. However, since their main leader is behind bars, it is indeed challenging for them too.
It is another matter that considering the dominance of Valmikis in Bellary rural, it seems like a cake walk for Sriramulu. As such, the Bellary Janata Party has an edge over the others. It is said that JD(S) is also backing Sriramulu by not fielding its candidate.
But, one cannot ignore the predominant lingayat votes and here, the BJP can match Sriramulu. With Yedurappa out and agreeing to lead the BJP campaign in Bellary, he can win away a majority of lingayats to BJP.
On the other hand the Congress camp is upbeat. It has fielded Ramprasad who polled more than 35000 votes in 2008 elections against Sriramulu. The Congress has fought the Reddys tooth and nail in the last two years. In fact, Bellary was the strong hold of Congress till the advent of Reddys and the absence of JD(S) candidate has enhanced its chances.
True, the Congress has its own vote bank. From the 2008 debacle, it has improved its share. In the 2009 Loksabha elections, the Congress candidate N.Y.Hanumanthappa was defeated by Sriramulu’s sister J.Shantha by a mere 2000 margin! The Congress Padayatra from Bangalore to Bellary against the Mining loot by Reddys has also improved its image.
Whatsoever, the original fight in Bellary by-election is between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bellary Janata Party. And for the result, we shall wait for the time.
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