Ballari: Health and family welfare minister, B Sriramulu, who is unhappy at not being made a Deputy CM in the Yediyurappa government, may be able to do very little about it as he does not have the kind of influence in the party that he had in the past, say sources. On Wednesday, he seemed to accept his lot and appealed to his supporters not to stage protests against the party for not making him a deputy Chief Minister.
" I abide by the party's decision," he said. Not surprised, a senior BJP leader observed that the present political circumstances in the BJP were completely different from those of 2009 when Mr Sriramulu and his mentor, mining baron-turned politician, Gali Janardhan Reddy called the shots in the party's affairs after playing a key role in establishing the first ever BJP government in the south in 2008 with their huge influence in Hyderabad-Karnataka.
Now, although Mr Sriramulu remains a force to be reckoned with in the Valmiki dominated Ballari, Chitradurga and Raichur districts, he doesn't seem to enjoy as much support in Hyderabad-Karnataka.
After the poor showing of the regional outfit he experimented with, the BSR Congress, in the 2013 assembly elections, Mr Sriramulu returned to the BJP and won the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Ballari riding on the "Modi wave."
However, the absence of Mr Reddy in active politics proved costly for the saffron party in both the 2013 and 2018 assembly elections in Ballari district as Mr Sriramulu alone could not ensure a majority of seats for the party.
In fact he himself fled his home bastion of Ballari rural in the 2018 assembly elections to neighbouring Molakalmur in Chitradurga district, which he reportedly saw as a safer seat.
But in the run-up to the 2018 assembly elections, Mr Sriramulu shot into political limelight again after Mr Yeddyurappa declared at a Scheduled Tribe convention of the party in Raichur that he would be made deputy Chief Minister once the party came to power in the state, in an apparent bid to woo the Valmiki community.He also emerged stronger after he took on the then Chief minister, Siddaramaiah in Badami constituency in Bagalkot district, and lost to him by a narrow margin.
Post the 2018 assembly poll, however, he began losing ground in the party, thanks to Belagavi strongman and Valmiki leader, Ramesh Jarkiholi. The BJP high command sent him a clear message that Ballari was no more his fiefdom by fielding Mr Jarkiholi's relative, Y Devendrappa from the constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"Ramesh Jarkiholi played a key role in destabilising the coalition government. So, he is likely to be rewarded for his contribution with a high profile portfolio once the Supreme Court takes a final call on the disqualified legislators' case", said a party leader.
