BJP’s prominent Scheduled Tribes (ST) community leader, Sriramulu’s outburst came after he was allegedly insulted by BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka Radha Mohan Agarwal.
Published Jan 23, 2025 | 5:02 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 23, 2025 | 5:54 PM
Sriramulu (left) said he was insulted at the BJP core committee meeting. (B Sriramulu/X)
Senior BJP leader and former minister B Sriramulu has threatened to quit the party reportedly over differences with his once thick friend Gali Janardhana Reddy.
Sriramulu’s outburst came after he was allegedly insulted by BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka Radha Mohan Agarwal during the core committee meeting held on Tuesday, 21 January.
“Radha Mohan gave me a distasteful look, speaking in a way that felt like spitting on my face in anger. Somebody may have poisoned his mind against me. He told me that I was responsible for the Sandur by-election loss. I told him it is not right to make such allegations,” Sriramulu told reporters on Thursday, 23 January.
Sriramulu had walked out of the core committee meeting. He said some senior leaders tried to stop him saying walking out was not proper.
Former MP DV Sadananda Gowda is to submit a report on the Sandur loss. Sriramulu claimed that he was being targeted even before the submission of the report.
“I questioned state president BY Vijayendra’s silence on the matter. Vijayendra knows I had actively campaigned in the Sandur constituency from day one, as he was present there. I left for Shiggaon only in the final days of the election to support the BJP candidate there,” Sriramulu explained.
Taking potshots at mining baron and MLA Janardhana Reddy, Sriramulu said, “He is trying to portray me as a criminal and project himself as a clean person. I have all the documents and evidence to prove that he is not. When the time comes, I will show it to the people.”
Incidentally, Reddy is currently out on bail in the multi-crore illegal mining scam in Karnataka. Sriramulu has been his close friend and business partner for decades and stood by Reddy when the latter pulled off Operation Kamala, which took the BJP to power in Karnataka in 2008.
Reddy refuted Sriramulu’s allegations. “Whatever allegations made by Sriramulu are false and devoid of truth. I can speak only this much. I will leave every other issue to the party’s high command. Whatever allegations he has made are untrue and baseless. I don’t know the circumstances under which he had made such allegations,” he said.
Sriramulu and Reddy grew together in politics. Their mining business gave them sufficient money and power. Reddy was also instrumental in Sriramulu’s rise in state politics.
In 2011, when Reddy was embroiled in the mining scam and fell out of favour with the BJP, Sriramulu followed him and floated the Badavara Shramikara Raithara (BSR) Congress. The party won four seats in 2013. The duo together also invested in a Kannada news channel, JanaShri, a portmanteau of their names. The venture eventually bit the dust.
Before the 2014 election, Sriramulu merged his party with the BJP and won from Ballari.
In the 2018 assembly elections in Karnataka, BJP kept a tainted Reddy away.
Despite Amit Shah’s instructions to keep Reddy at bay, Sriramulu made Reddy a part of his campaign in a display of camaraderie in Molakalmuru, a seat which he won. In short, even when the BJP slammed its door on Reddy, Sriramulu stood by him.
In the run-up to the 2023 assembly elections, Reddy floated a party, Karnataka Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP), and won as an independent candidate. Ironically, Sriramulu, who contested from another seat, lost the election.
Following the BJP’s disastrous performance in the 2023 assembly election, Amit Shah rolled out a red carpet to Reddy to merge his party with the BJP. In March 2024, Reddy merged his party with the BJP. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Sriramulu once again lost his seat and his value further depreciated in the BJP.
With Sriramulu’s luck on the wane and Reddy’s currency on the rise in the BJP, the once inseparable friends are now at each others’ throats.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
