Sriramulu had visited his close associate and former minister Janardhana Reddy in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning.
It is double trouble for the BJP. As former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa was granted bail in Bangalore, another tainted BJP leader, Sriramulu, is all set to bid goodbye to the BJP and contest the Bellary Rural by-poll as an Independent.
Though chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda tried to play down the implications by stating that the BJP was ready to face any challenge and there is no dearth of candidates in the party to win the battle, the mood in the party reflected a different tale.
The BJP has short-listed former Bellary Zilla Panchayat president Nettakallappa, and former ZP members Veereshappa and Gadhilingappa — all political lightweights — as potential candidates if Sriramulu enters the fray.
Sriramulu had visited his close associate and former minister Janardhana Reddy in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning and the two leaders had discussed political strategies for over two hours. Emerging out of the jail, Sriramulu refused to divulge whether he would contest as an Independent or on a BJP ticket. He rushed to Bellary to hold one more round of consultations with supporters and later dropped clear hints of contesting as an Independent, even as BJP leaders continued their last-ditch efforts to convince him to accept the party ticket. “I will file my nomination
papers tomorrow (Wednesday). Let the people’s court decide whether I am guilty or not,” said Sriramulu.
BJP state president KS Eshwarappa has chosen to wait until Wednesday afternoon to announce the party candidate, expressing the hope that the crisis would be resolved with Sriramulu. Sriramulu’s entry as an Independent would effectively mean goodbye to the BJP by
Bellary big boys— Janardhana Reddy, Karunakara Reddy and Sriramulu.
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