Constituency Watch - Bellary: BJP eyes win in Karnataka’s mining capital Bellary

Tribune News Service

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, May 6

Smoke and dust emanating from industries are reminiscent of the infamous mining business that has been dictating the politics of Bellary since 2004. The political outcomes in Bellary constituency have been determined by the money power of its mining barons, the Reddy brothers — Gali Janardhana, Somashekar and Karunakar — rather than local issues.

Rising on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, BJP’s candidate B Sriramulu is hopeful that the “resurrection of Sri Rama in Ayodhya will ensure his political rebirth in the election.”

Sriramulu was defeated in the 2023 Assembly polls from the Bellary Rural Assembly constituency. This time, in every public rally, he has been emotionally appealing to voters to ensure he is not pushed to political “oblivion”.

Vital stats

17,51,734 Total voters

8,80,246 male

8,71,488 female

Total candidates in fray: 6

Voting date: May 7

PeeK into past (2019 LS poll)

Winner: Y Devendrappa (Bharatiya Janata Party)

Polled: 6,16,388 votes

Nearest rival: V. S. Ugrappa (Congress)

Polled: 5,60,681 votes

He is contesting against Congress candidate and four-time MLA from Sandur E Tukaram. Congress sources say that he has been assured that if he wins the election, his daughter will be given a chance to become Sandur MLA and if he is defeated, he will be made minister in Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet.

Both Tukaram and Sriramulu are members of the ST community. “The only thing that could work in favour for us is the anger of voters against Sriramulu. The Congress guarantees are working well. He remains inaccessible after elections and this is the reason he was defeated last year in Assembly poll. But the other thing which I admit is that Tukaram is not interested in national politics and this might go against us,” a Congress leader said.

Former Karnataka minister G Janardhan Reddy, who is accused in nine CBI cases linked to illegal mining, returned to the BJP in March by merging his Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha party with the BJP. Reddy’s return was expected to boost the BJP’s prospects in the iron ore-rich mining district.

Reddy remained imprisoned for nearly a year after his arrest in 2011 and was until recently barred from entering the Ballari region on the orders of the apex court. The BJP has dominated the Bellary Lok Sabha seat from 2004 to 2014, with Karunakar Reddy, brother of Janardhan Reddy, J Shantha, Sriramulu’s sister, and Sriramulu being elected to the Parliament.

Sriramulu vacated the seat to contest the 2018 Assembly elections and made way for Shantha to contest the seat for by-elections. However, the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2018 managed to wrest the seat from the BJP, handing Congress candidate V S Ugrappa a victory. However, the latter lost to BJP’s Y Devandrappa in the 2019 elections. In 1999, Sushma Swaraj contested against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who fought from Bellary on a second seat after Rae Bareli in 1999.

“Though BJP talks of fighting corruption, they inducted Janardhana Reddy into the party, who looted Bellary and made fortunes. The water and air even today remains polluted,” said H Ganesha, a businessman in Bellary.

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