Janardhan Reddy fields wife in Ballari seat

Mangaluru: A month after forming Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP), former minister and mining baron G Janardhan Reddy declared candidature of his wife Aruna Lakshmi from Bellary constituency.

Reddy made the announcement at Anegundi of Koppal district.

The party manifesto will be released and the constituencies to field the party candidates will be announced soon, Reddy said.

Ahead of the state assembly elections, the BJP, Congress, and JD(S) are playing the blame game.

 G Janardhan Reddy has gained the attention by fielding his wife in Bellary. Aruna Lakshmi will contest against Janardhan Reddy’s younger brother Somashekhar Reddy (BJP) who is the sitting MLA  

 Janardhan Reddy played an active role in strengthening BJP in Karnataka and bringing it to power in 2008.

He had stayed away from active politics for over a decade after his arrest in the illegal mining case. He made re-entry last month by forming KRPP.

In the past month, Reddy has been touring various places in the North Karnataka region to strengthen his party base. As he is not allowed to enter Ballari district due to court order, Reddy has converted the Koppal district, the neighboring district of Ballari as the hub of his activities.

“This is a sacred land where the Vijayanagara Kingdom was founded. I have suffered Vanvas for 12 years. People feel that I have formed the party as retaliation. But this party is not to take revenge on anybody. I will not speak against anybody,” he said.

 “We will field candidates in those constituencies which have chances for victory. I am not fielding candidates with the intention to defeat anyone,” he added.

He also made promises for the development of Koppal district.

“Anjanadri is the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. The area will be developed through Anjanadri Development Corporation by spending Rs 5,000 crore. A 200- bed super specialty hospital will be set up in Gangavathi. Gangavathi will be made a slum-free city,” he assured.