By Shivakumar G Malagi
Loyalists of jailed former minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and his confidante Independent MLA B Sriramulu are apparently jubilant after landslide victory for Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSR Congress Party in the by-elections for 18 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, with a renewed confidence to repeat this impressive performance in Karnataka in next Assembly elections claiming that people would largely ignore charges on mining scam tainted Reddy brothers and vote for Mr Sriramulu-led new party. When the sympathy triggered among people by the arrest of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy translated into votes and seats for his YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Friday when it swept 15 out of the 18 Assembly seats and the lone Nellore Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh; Reddy-Sriramulu loyalists started talking of repeating similar verdict in Karnataka too. “We are very happy with the performance of YSRCP. We are proud of Jagan for this achievement. We too all greatly blessed by his father late YS Rajashekhar Reddy. This verdict showed that the people believed him to be innocent. It also proved that people will not let you down if you work hard for their welfare”, asserted Bellary City MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy. KMF chairman Mr Reddy is confident enough that similar verdict will be repeated in next Assembly elections by Sriramulu who is emerging to be a tallest leader of backward and suppressed classes in State after completing his 920 km padayatra from Bidar to Bengaluru. But, ground reality is not so conducive for Reddy mine barons and political scenario in Karnataka is entirely different from neighbouring AP. YS Jagan has meticulously filled the vacuum for a third force acceptable across all regions in Andhra Pradesh after Congress and Telugu Desam Party, whereas in Karnataka, already there are three politically active major forces-Congress, BJP and JD(S) with different identities. Hence, at this juncture, scope for a fourth-force led by Sriramulu is still uncertain and his Valmiki community is numerically in fourth position and not a politically decisive in majority of constituencies. His party, encashing mainly on Valmiki-Nayakas can only be a good combination either with dominant Vokkalingas in southern Karnataka and Lingayats in north Karnataka to deliver an impressive verdict, but cannot go alone in more than ten assembly seats despite money bags of Reddy brothers. As often claimed by himself, Sriramulu’s party is focused more on North Karnataka that too on few districts surrounding Bellary, so there is a dearth of state-wide acceptability for his party. More importantly, neither he nor his mentor Janardhan Reddy had a long-legacy of politics, but carry a heavy baggage of illegal mining scam, haunted by a series of investigations. Mining scam tainted Janardhan Reddy's life behind bars may not fetch sympathy for Sriramulu, as he widely believed as “poster boy” for Reddy mine barons whose acceptability among relatively rationale voters in Karnataka is diminishing with broad exposure of mining scam. On contrary to this, with its resounding victory, Jagan's party proved that its primary claim to YSR's legacy and promise of a 'suvarna rajyam' (golden rule) scored heavily with the voters, especially women, that thronged road shows addressed by his mother Y.S. Vijayamma and sister Sharmila, had all the trappings of a sympathy wave waiting to happen. Voters seem to have largely ignored the corruption charges against Jagan, which formed a major part of the campaign plank of both the Congress and Telugu Desam Party. Also, he was largely helped by the polarization of Reddy votes irrespective of the regions and prominent Reddy community leaders’ rule the roost in districts, identified with him deserting party affiliations, while, Catholic Christians and Dalits in every region rallied behind him.
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