Bellary: The schism among Reddy brothers of Bellary was evident during the recent Lok Sabha polls with former revenue minister and eldest sibling Gali Karunakar Reddy staying away from the high-decibel campaign of his younger brother Gali Janardhan Reddy's lieutenant, B. Sriramulu.
Mr Karunakar Reddy, who was the first non-Congress MP from Bellary, surfaced in the mining town on the day of polling, April 17, to cast his vote along with his wife. When media persons asked why he stayed away from Bellary and did not drum up support for Mr. Sriramulu, he said the BJP has assigned him the responsibility of leading electioneering in Harapanahalli Assembly segment of Davangere Lok Sabha constituency.
Sources said rift between Mr. Karunakar Reddy and Mr. Janardhan Reddy surfaced first when he stated that he was no more a director of scam-tainted Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) following a decision by the Andhra Pradesh government to order a CBI probe in December 2009.
It widened after then Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde released his report on illegal mining in July 2011, and indicted Mr. Karunakar Reddy, too, for being one of the directors of OMC.
Sources said Mr. Karunakar Reddy willfully avoided campaigning in Bellary and even advised his younger brother and KMF president Mr. Gali
Somashekhar Reddy not to support Mr Sriramulu. The upshot: Mr. Somashekhar Reddy confined his campaign to Bellary city rather than tour the entire Lok Sabha constituency.
In fact, it was Mr. Karunakar Reddy who cut off his ties with Mr. Sriramulu when the latter launched the BSR Congress in 2012 and subsequently advised his siblings too to keep away from the former Karnataka health minister.
