BALLARI: Former minister and BJP Lok Sabha ticket aspirant B Sriramulu is said to be tense after the recent announcement of his once close friend and Gangavathi MLA G Janardhana Reddy, who stated that a candidate from his Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) would contest from the Ballari Lok Sabha constituency.
Sriramulu, who lost the Assembly election from Ballari Rural, is expected to get the Lok Sabha ticket from BJP. But a KRPP candidate could eat into his vote share, affecting his chances of winning the election. Now, a worried Sriramulu is said to be trying to convince Reddy against fielding the candidate.
A KRPP worker told TNIE that Reddy called a meeting last week to discuss fielding a party candidate from Ballari. “At the meeting, he expressed his displeasure over Sriramulu not extending his support to KRPP when it was launched. In the last Assembly election, too, he worked against Aruna Laxmi, the party candidate and Reddy’s wife. It is not fair on his part to seek our help now,” the worker added.
“Reddy supported Sriramulu from the very start of his political career. But he did not stand by Reddy, who was going through horrendous times, personally and politically, over the last few years. It is certain that our party will field a candidate from Ballari, which is a Scheduled Tribe (Reserved) constituency,” he said.
During the recent Rajya Sabha polls, Reddy voted in favour of the Congress candidate, showing where his sympathies lie now. The decision to field the candidate against Sriramulu is a political plot to divide the votes to favour the Congress candidate, a political expert observed.