Snapping his ties with the BJP, former minister G Janardhan Reddy launched a new party. He will contest from the Gangavathi assembly segment in 2023.
With Assembly polls barely four months away, Karnataka is turning up to be a political hotspot. While leaders of prominent political parties have kick-started the preparations for the elections, some others have floated new political outfits ahead of the polls in the state.
One such new party is the ‘Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha’, floated by Gali Janaradhana Reddy, industrialist and a former minister in the BS Yediyurappa cabinet.
Forced to sit out by the BJP, especially Amit Shah, in the 2018 Assembly polls, Reddy has decided to go alone this time. Despite the BJP distancing itself from him, Reddy had personally campaigned for B Sriramulu, his man Friday, in 2018.
The BJP, which levelled corruption charges against the then Congress government in Karnataka, distanced itself from the mining scam accused Reddy, leaving him sulking.
Reddy has been preparing to launch his political outfit for over a year now, setting up social media pages and conducting ground surveys. His decision to contest from Gangavathi is an outcome of the surveys.
“Today, I am announcing Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha. This new political party was formed with the ideals of 12th-centuryth century social reformer Basavanna, which is against divisive politics in the name of religion and caste,” Reddy, who is facing charges of illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, told reporters on Sunday, 25 December, while announcing the launch of his new political party.
“I have never failed in any initiatives I have taken in my life. I am confident about people blessing my new political party,” he stated.
“There is no doubt that this state (Karnataka) will become a Kalyana Rajya (welfare state) in the coming days,” Reddy exuded confidence.
Announcing that he would contest the polls from Koppal’s Gangavathi assembly segment, Reddy said: “I have decided to kick-start my second innings in politics from Gangavathi.”
“I have also enrolled in the local electoral list. I will contest from Gangavathi constituency in the 2023 assembly polls,” Reddy confirmed his return to politics after 12 years.
Gangavathi is popular for paddy cultivation and is dominated by the Andhra Reddy community. This segment shares its border with Ballari district, which is 61.7 kilometres away from Gangavathi town.
The Supreme Court has prohibited the multi-crore mining scam accused Reddy from entering the Ballari district in 2015.
Reddy was born in a middle-class family in Ballari in 1967. His father, Chenga Reddy, who had migrated from Chittoor town in Andhra Pradesh to Ballari after independence, was a police constable in Karnataka.
His older brothers are G Karunakar Reddy, and G Somashekara Reddy, currently with the BJP and representing Harapanahalli and Ballari assembly segments, respectively. Karunakar and Somashekara are graduates but Janardhan Reddy’s education qualification is SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate).
RTI activist Tapal Ganesh, who played a key role in exposing the illegal mining of Reddy, told South First: “Janardhan Reddy ventured into the finance business at a very young age, in his early 20s. He established Ennoble India Savings and Investments India, a finance company, in the 1990s.”
“Then, he along with his brothers started to try their luck in politics. Meanwhile, they came in contact with B Sriramulu, currently the Minister for Transport and Tribal Welfare in the Karnataka government-led by BJP, in Ballari.”
“Initially, they were with the Congress. When the grand old party denied a ticket to Sriramulu in the 1999 Karnataka assembly polls, he along with the Reddy brothers, joined the BJP,” Ganesh recalled.
It is believed that Reddy’s political career took shape during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections when the Ballari parliament segment witnessed a high-voltage electoral battle between former AICC president Sonia Gandhi and BJP’s senior leader late Sushma Swaraj.
In the 1990s, Ballari was a Congress fort. Sonia Gandhi trounced Swaraj, who had then contested from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and Ballari segment in 1999. Sonia won from Amethi also.
“The 1999 general elections brought Janardhan Reddy and Sriramulu closer to Sushma Swaraj as the duo campaigned extensively for her,” Ganesh said. The duo refers to Swaraj as ‘mother’.
“Sonia won but left Ballari, while Sushma Swaraj continued to frequent the constituency. She played a key role in nurturing the political careers of Reddy and Sriramulu.”
“Sushma used to be the chief guest for the Varamahalakshmi puja, which is a major Hindu annual religious event during the Shravana Maasa (a holy month for Hindus), organised by the Reddys at their residence,” Ganesh added.
“The religious event also included free mass marriages for the oppressed community. These events brought much-needed popularity to the Reddy brothers and Sriramulu.”
“In the meantime, Reddy had developed a healthy relationship with the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy. He entered the mining business by setting up the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) with a capital of ₹10 lakh in 2001.”
“In the following year, he became the OMC’s director. Besides mining along the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, he took over many mining leases directly or indirectly and reported a turnover that ran into crores. In five years, his turnover became ₹3,000 crore,” Ganesh said about the rise of the industrialist.
“Janardhana Reddy made his political debut in 2006 when he was nominated to Karnataka Legislative Council by the BJP. Thereafter, Reddy and his two brothers and Sriramulu were all ministers in the BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government in 2008. In one year, Reddy took total control over the mining business in the iron-ore-rich Ballari and border districts of Andhra,” he added.
Janardhan Reddy, who tasted success in politics, is said to be the man behind ‘Operation Kamala’ — the BJP’s infamous move to poach rival MLAs by offering money and posts.
In the 2008 assembly elections, the BJP won 110 out of the 224 assembly seats and fell short by three seats for a clear majority.
With Reddy’s help, the BJP had managed to convince three Congress and four JD(S) legislators to resign. These seven legislators then contested as BJP candidates in the bypolls in which five won and two lost.
The strategy benefited the BJP whose strength went up to 115, and the party formed the government, for the first time in South India.
There were allegations that the BJP, mainly Reddy, orchestrated seven MLA defections.
Interestingly, BJP leaders termed it a ‘political innovation’. Circumventing the anti-defection law, Reddy managed to put the BJP at the helm in Karnataka.
This political engineering by Reddy was termed ‘Operation Kamala’. The BJP held on to power for a full term between 2008 to 2013 but witnessed three chief ministers and the sudden collapse of the Reddy empire.
Reddy was arrested in an alleged ₹16,000 crores illegal mining scam in 2011.
The Reddy brothers, who had witnessed a sudden rise in wealth and politics also unexpectedly fell into deep trouble when Andhra’s Congress leader Rajasehkhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash in 2009.
On a petition filed by Tapal Ganesh, the proprietor of a private mining company, to a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court, the apex court ordered the immediate closure of five mines run by the Reddys on charges of exploiting the forest areas by unlawful mining in Ballari and the border districts of Andhra.
Ganesh pointed out: “This unprecedented development in Andhra led to a huge political uproar as Telugu Desam Party (TDP), then in the opposition party, took a strong stand against the illegal mining of Reddy brothers.
“After coming under severe criticism, the then AP Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah, who succeeded YSR Reddy, set up a three-member committee, comprising senior forest officers, to look into the mining norms violation,” Ganesh recalled.
“Based on the committee’s report, Rosaiah ordered a CBI probe in 2010. The CBI arrested the then minister Reddy on charges of illegal mining from his residence in Ballari in 2011.”
He was forced to resign from the Yediyurappa cabinet.
“The same year, the Karnataka Lokayukta launched a probe into the illegal mining by the Reddy brothers in Ballari. The Lokayukta mentioned in its report that the Reddy brother’s illegal mining resulted in a ₹25,000 crore loss to the state exchequer. There are around 10 to 12 cases against Reddy about illegal mining in Andhra and Karnataka,” Ganesh explained.
“Reddy was in jail until he got bail in 2015. He was exiled from Ballari and a couple of districts in Andhra. Reddy is currently facing trial in a court in an illegal mining case,” he added.
“People should be aware and should not be trapped by Reddy. He has looted the state’s natural resources to an unimaginable extent. Even the CBI is not carrying out an investigation properly on the matter,” Ganesh said.
“Efforts are being made to give him a clean chit. The authorities concerned should not spare the son of an ordinary police constable who went on to become a billionaire by amassing assets illegally and looting natural resources,” Ganesh stressed.
However, Reddy denied his involvement in the alleged illegal mining scam and challenged his detractors to prove his role in the scam in Bengaluru on Sunday.
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