You can keep me out of BJP, but not BJP out of me: Gali Janardhan Reddy

Tumakuru: On Basava Jayanthi on Wednesday, former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy said that BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa will become Chief Minister again after the state assembly polls. Mr Reddy had played a pivotal role in ensuring the party’s victory in 2008 but later, the party distanced itself from him after the mining baron got embroiled in a series of illegal mining cases and was arrested.

After meeting the Siddaganga Math seer here, Mr Reddy told reporters that he visited the math to seek the blessings of Sri Shiva kumara Swamiji. He asserted that that Lingayat strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa will become Chief Minister after the assembly elections.

"The BJP is in my blood, I will work to see Yeddyurappa become CM after this elections", he said. It may be recalled that Mr Reddy along with 40-odd BJP MLAs had rebelled against Mr Yeddyurappa in 2009 in an attempt to dethrone him from the CM post . However, both entered into a truce after the intervention of party senior leader Ms Sushma Swaraj.

The former minister also said that despite the rebellion by sitting BJP MLA in Molakalmuru, Thippeswamy, his close friend and Ballari MP B. Sriramulu, the BJP candidate for the constituency, will emerge victorious. He, however, refused to comment on the statement of Party National President Mr Amit Shah that the BJP has nothing to do with Mr Reddy.

BJP’s final list delayed as party scouts for Winnable candidates

While some in the BJP  believe state party chief,  B.S. Yeddyurappa, is playing a big role in selection of candidates for the party’s final list for the coming assembly poll, others claim that winna bility is the only criterion being followed and this is why the party has been slow in releasing it. "The final list is the one that takes much longer to finalise as the party is scouting for candidates who can win and help it get a simple majority  of 113 seats," said a senior leader.

The BJP ,which has so far not announ ced candidates for many south Karna taka and Bengaluru city constituencies, has, surprisingly,  not announced candidates for a few seats in coastal Karnata- ka as well although it is considered its stronghold. While some claim that old loyalists are being ignored and  tickets are being given to those who deserted the party along with Mr Yeddyurappa and returned with him, others dismiss the theory.

"It is not a question of loyalists or non-loyalists getting tickets. We have to win and so the party is trying to field the right candidates. In Tumakuru, loyalist S. Shivanna came fourth in the last assembly elections and so Jyothi Prasad, who was a KJP candidate, but performed well,  got the party ticket,” said a party insider, explaining that so far Mr Yeddyurappa has been given the freedom to choose candidates for nearly 30 per cent of the seats announced considering his experience, tour of the state and  feedback from district workers. Another 30 per cent of candidates  were backed by top senior leaders like Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadanada Gowda. And around 15 to 20 per cent by different frontal organisations. “All these were accommodated in the first and the second lists. Now in the last leg, we need to field candidates, who can help us get a clear lead over our rivals,” said the leader.