TUMAKURU: Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Saturday expressed confidence that former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy will not leave BJP and float his own party as Transport Minister B Sriramulu has already spoken to him.
There are murmurs in the political corridors about Reddy, a mining baron, planning to launch a party and contest the 2023 Assembly elections. “He will not quit BJP and form his own party. Sriramulu has spoken to Reddy. I hope they will not create any confusion anymore,” he told reporters at Sira after laying the foundation stone for a new sub-registrar’s office.
Ashoka also said there is groupism in Karnataka Congress. “DK Shivakumar is sandwiched due to internal bickering in the KPCC... supporters of former DyCM Dr G Parameshwara want a Dalit as CM... Siddaramaiah’s supporters are playing the Kuruba card,” he said.
“As Siddaramaiah’s team had defeated Parameshwara in the 2013 polls, the former has been finding it difficult to find a safe seat as the latter’s team wants to defeat him. Shivakumar started dreaming of becoming the CM hoping that Siddaramaiah will lose the 2023 polls. In Congress, their leaders defeat each other,” he elaborated.