Let him exit BJP if he wishes, BJP MLA to his one-time close associate
Janardhan Reddy was reacting to reports of Sreeramulu offering to exit from BJP after he was reportedly targeted for defeat in Sandur by-poll in Ballari held in October last year at BJP’s core-committee meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Ballari is native place of Sreeramulu
BENGALURU: Rift between former ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders –B. Sreeramulu and Gali Janardhan Reddy widened and both the leaders traded charges against each other.
BJP MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy on Thursday asked his one-time close associate and party colleague B. Sreeramulu to “act per his conscience whether to remain in the party or make an exit” but stated “No need to level allegations against me before he quit the party.”
Janardhan Reddy was reacting to reports of Sreeramulu offering to exit from BJP after he was reportedly targeted for defeat in Sandur by-poll in Ballari held in October last year at BJP’s core-committee meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Ballari is native place of Sreeramulu.
Reddy said “I am not the person to point fingers at Sreeramulu for defeat in the Sandur by-poll" and stated speculations are rife in Ballari that president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is trying to lure Sreeramulu into the Congress party.
Continuing, he said, the move to induct Sreeramulu, having considerable clout among Scheduled Tribes, into Congress party by Shivakumar is to snub Minister of Public Works Satish Jarkiholi, a strong Scheduled Tribes community leader and a close confidante of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
At a press conference here, Janardhan Reddy said “It is up to him (Sreeramulu) to take a decision on staying in BJP. In no way it is connected to me. It is a matter between him and the party.”
He observed “A State level leader losing on his home turf calls for introspection” pointing at Sreeramulu’s defeat in Ballari rural Assembly seat in May 2023 and also in Lok Sabha election in Ballari parliamentary seat in 2024. “I was away from Ballari for 14 years and Sreeramulu had ample time to establish himself in Ballari and win the trust of voters,” Reddy said.
“Quitting party is not new for him,” said Reddy and recalled the launch of Badava, Sharmika and Raitha (BSR) Congress party by Sreeramulu after he missed becoming a Minister in the cabinet of then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda a decade back.