Bellary: Badava Shramika Raitha (BSR) Congress founder president B. Sreeramulu, who was touted as a messiah of the other backward communities (OBCs) when he won an assembly bypoll by 40,000 votes as an independent in December 2011, has now become persona non grata for both BJP and JD (S).
The former Karnataka health minister who is a close confidante of the beleagured Reddy minelords, emerged as the strongman of the Bellary political arena with the blessings of his thayee and leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj post the 1999 Bellary Lok Sabha election.
This election witnessed a fiercely fought battle between Swaraj and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. Ironically; his one-time godmother Swaraj is now reportedly blocking his re-entry into his parent party ahead of the 2014 parliament polls.
Senior leaders of the Bellary BJP unit, who are working to get Sriramulu back into the party fold told Deccan Chronicle that his is keen to return to BJP after the not so remarkable debut of BSR Congress in the 2013 assembly elections when it could win only four seats. Sriramulu had tried to use the good offices of former CMs Jagadish Shettar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda for his comeback bid and had even met BJP central leaders Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh.
“But he was clearly told that Swaraj was strongly opposed to his reinduction as she believes that the illegal mining scam involving the Reddys, dented her clean image and was a strong reason for the BJP not projecting her as the PM candidate for the 2014 LS polls”, said a senior BJP leader. He added that no state and central leader is prepared to convince Swaraj to soften her resistance to the re-entry of the BSR Congress chief.
Besides, state BJP leaders who went overboard in getting former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa back to the party, are not showing the same enthusiasm when it comes to Sriramulu. Reason: he is no longer a force to reckon with in Bellary and in surrounding areas and even in his Valmiki community.
His clout has diminished to such an extent that unsuccessful BSR Congress candidates who contested the assembly polls, are threatening to protest against him for ‘lying and cheating’ to them and not fulfilling the promises made to them in the run up to the polls.
Another factor is the severe fund crunch the party is facing after Janardhan Reddy was put in jail two years ago. Sreeramulu has virtually become an aam admi in Bellary unlike earlier years when he had a cavalcade of his supporters following him in their cars.
To his chagring, at a convention of scheduled tribes organised by excise minister Satish Jarkiholi in Chitradurga last week, there was no mention of him with the majority of the Valmiki community rallying behind Jarkiholi.
Even his attempts to cosy up to the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (S) have not met with success. Sreeramulu had held a secret meeting with JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy on merging his four MLA outfit with the Dal.
This would have helped the JD(S) leader retain the post of leader of the opposition in the assembly after the KJP-BJP merÂger. However, KumaraÂswamy said no to the overtures as he feels that the induction of Sreeramulu would damage his paÂrty’s image in the Lok Sabha poll. Sources close to Sreeramulu said he is clueless about his political stand in the Lok Sabha polls.
