Reddy-wary Amit Shah skips Ballari, BJP cringes

Ballari: In a furious attempt to distance himself  from the Reddy brothers after the Congress stepped up a blistering campaign on social media to shame the BJP for giving seven BJP tickets to the extended Reddy family, the BJP national president, Amit Shah on Friday abruptly cancelled his rally in Ballari district, from where Ballari city candidate and brother of former minister, Gali Janardhana Reddy,  Somashekhar Reddy was personally supervising the preparations. Mine baron Janardhan Reddy has also been instructed to conduct all his electioneering away from media scrutiny.

Taken by surprise by the sudden decision,  BJP district president, Channabasavanagowda said all preparations had been done for Mr Shah's rally. "We had put up his posters and party flags. We don't know why the rally was cancelled," he said, feigning ignorance on the real reason behind the cancellation. 

Sources said Mr  Shah, who had in March declared that the BJP had nothing to do with Mr Janardhana Reddy, may have developed cold feet over sharing a dais with the Reddy brothers and their close associates at the rally after he was seen with MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan when Reddy associate Boya Sriramulu filed his nominations from Badami last week.  MP goes to the polls later this year along with BJP ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. 

Janardhan Reddy former Minister, accused of illegal mining of iron ore, is barred from entering the district under his bail conditions. 

Dismissing speculation that Mr Shah scrapped the Ballari visit to avoid being seen in public with the Reddys, BJP leaders claim Mr Shah cancelled his Ballari rally as he was busy with party workers in Bengaluru and left the city a little late.

In fact, skipping Ballari altogether, the BJP national president arrived at Koppal in the afternoon and held a 'baitak' with local leaders over the strategy to win five key seats here, before addressing rallies at Kukanoor in Yalaburga and in Gangavati. 

Although BJP leaders argue that Mr Janardhana Reddy is not a star campaigner for the party and is hitting the road on his own to back his friends these elections, party insiders admit that the inclusion of the Reddy brothers is a desperate move to win votes in their old strongholds. "The party's strategy is to get the Reddy brothers in, but distance the national leaders from them," they explain. 

"It is apparent that for Reddy brothers', and their old Operation Kamala strategy to work, the party need these men but they cannot do so publicly. Although the corruption taint does not matter locally, this may be a way to limit the potential damage it can cause nationally," they added.

Don’t be seen, heard, Shah diktat to Reddy 

Anticipating that it could suffer a setback in the battle of perceptions in poll-bound-Karnataka, controversial mine lord and former minister, G. Janardhan Reddy, was reportedly asked not to campaign for the BJP in public. 
However, he might play a role in micro-management of elections in various constituencies bordering Andhra Pradesh, according to sources in the state unit of BJP.

In the wake of English media, both print and electronic making, making a  big issue about Mr Reddy attending the party allies within a week after BJP  president Amit Shah stating that the party had no links with the former, the party seemed to have issued a diktat to Mr Reddy, sources in the party said. “The party does not want to lose the perception battle too. Even though Mr Yeddyurappa went to jail, his popularity, caste calcuation are different from that of Mr Reddy. Therefore, Mr Reddy has been asked to work behind the screen,” sources said.