People in Bellary, the iron ore mining capital, had accepted the political leadership of the Reddy mine barons and their close associate Boya Sreeramulu for almost a decade. But, in the recent elections to urban local bodies (ULBs) including the prestigious Bellary city corporation, they voted the Congress party to power in all ULBs in the district predicting a gloomy political future for the Reddy-Sreeramulu founded Badava Shramika Raitha (BSR) Congress.
After his party’s dismal performance in the Bellary City Corporation polls, Valmiki strongman Sreeramulu took up the issue of evicting vendors and petty shopkeepers from foothpaths in Bellary, apparently for his party’s survival and staged a day and night dharna on the street. Strangely, instead of his political opponents, he targeted a bureaucrat—Bellary deputy commissioner Aditya Amlan Biswas— for his political revival. Police took him into preventive custody along with his supporters when he staged the dharna on a bustling road. Soon after his release from police custody,Sreeramulu spoke to Deccan Chronicle on various issues.
Excerpts:
The assembly election have been announced. But it seems BSR Congress is not ready for the polls?
I have already received 4,000 applications seeking tickets for the assembly election. There is strong competition for the tickets. The process of screening applications has already been initiated by the BSR Congress Election Committee headed by former Koppal MP K. Virupakshappa. This committee will finalize candidates considering their winability, caste equations and other factors. I admit that my party suffered a jolt in the first ever election (ULB polls) it faced after its inception. But, this time we are prepared to fight the assembly elections.
Keeping the verdict of the ULB polls in mind, what kind of future do you foresee for your party?
As far as the forthcoming assembly election is concerned, I see a conspiracy hatched by national parties —Congress and BJP— in preparing the assembly election schedule. When you look at the schedules in the past, polling was held in two or three phases in Karnataka. But, in the 2013 election, polling is scheduled for only one day on May 5. This is done with the intention of preventing regional parties from undertaking a full-fledged campaign across the state and ensuring lesser time for regional party leaders to go on a campaign.
Both Congress and BJP have come to an understanding to scuttle the chances of a Third Front, comprising of regional parties from across the country coming to power at the Centre. Indeed, the Congress does not want to eradicate corruption which has been proved by the delay in enacting the Lokpal Bill. The Congress headed UPA-II government is caught in a series of scams and is blatantly misusing the CBI to curb the rise of promising regional leaders.
This is proved in the case of Gali Janardhan Reddy in Karnataka and now, M.K. Stalin in Tamil Nadu. The CBI is no more an independent investigation agency, it has turned into the ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation.’ Using the CBI, the Congress wants to ensure no prominent regional leader rises to prominence. But, in spite of everything, I see a bright future for my party after this assembly election.
After the Bellary by-election in December 2011, you were described as a SC, ST and OBC leader. But what went wrong? It seems you failed to cash in on this image.
I understood that the Bellary by-election and ULB elections are fought on different parameters. But, I admit that I did not reach out to Bellary voters in the ULB elections as I went on a tour of the entire state to introduce my new party-BSR Congress— to the people. This might have upset Bellary voters and they voted against me. I will contact every voter in my hometown in the coming Assembly election and make good the loss suffered in terms of votes.
Do you feel the absence of Janardhan Reddy(former minister who is now in jail)?
I feel the absence of my friend and mentor Janardhan Reddy to the extent of 90 per cent. Together, we would have formed a good combination.
But you are the mass leader. People should come to you whether Reddy is on your side or not.
No doubt, I am considered a mass leader. But, I candidly admit that a combination of a mass leader and a ‘master mind’ will yield better results in politics. Janardhan Reddy is a master-strategist for me and in his absence, we don’t have a good combination.
Do you think people are of the opinion that you and your supporters were high handed when you were in power?
Everything looks nice and good when the party is growing. I too have felt that a section of people were angry with some of my supporters and were waiting for a chance to express their anguish. By voting against my party in the Corporation elections, they have expressed their anger. My die-hard supporters who parted ways with me ahead of the local body elections for various reasons, were the key reason for the victory of more than 15 Congress candidates. I am sure many of them will return to the party fold and put up a strong fight in the assembly elections.
But, the ULB polls prove urban educated voters are not backing you.
I don’t think so. People of my caste (Valmiki) are numerically less and not politically decisive in Gadag and other northern districts. Even the pontiffs of various prominent Lingayat maths showered love and affection on me. I think people who speak in this way are jealous on me and unable to digest the the fact that a person from the lower strata of the society could become CM.
There are strong indications that many of your party leaders want to go back to BJP. What is happening?
BJP was “zero” in Bellary district 15-years ago when Bellary was considered a fortress of the Congress. But, over 10-years, we worked hard to make Bellary a stronghold of the BJP pushing the Congress into a corner. I am not saying that no one is backing the BJP now, but we will make Bellary a bastion of the BSR Congress and push the BJP into oblivion.
Then, why did you hold a secret meeting with the chief minister?
I took an appointment with the CM to discuss developmental works in Bellary. I am not claiming that we did not talk about politics. Chief Minister Shettar was a good friend even before he became CM. As friends, we shared a lot of details on the current political scenario.
Will you align with BJP or KJP?
We will have no alliance with any other party. We will fight elections in 224 assembly constituencies on our own strength.
How do you see the rise of the Congress in Bellary?
Congress has not tasted victory in the district for the last 12 years. I was told that the responsibility of ward campaigns was distributed among Congress leaders Diwakar Babu, Allum Veerabhadrappa, Hothur Mohammed Iqbal, Anil Lad and K.C. Kondaiah and they worked together for the candidates’ victory. I think their unity has yielded results. Janardhan Reddy is our supreme leader and we all work as per his instructions. In the end, I admit that BSR Congress was defeated in Bellary because of my irresponsibility and negligence in contacting voters properly. I take complete responsibility for my party’s defeat.
