Gali Janardhana Reddy, infamous for the massive mining scam in Karnataka’s Bellari district on the Andhra-Karnataka border, floats his own party, just in time for Karnataka’s state elections scheduled to be held in less than six months.
Gali Janardhan Reddy’s new party, Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) claiming to stand for the state’s development, plans to go it alone in the upcoming 2023 Karnataka state elections. Reddy is not allowed to contest from Ballari per instructions from the Court, based on the cases registered against him by the CBI.
However, he plans to contest from the Gangavathi assembly constituency in Koppal district. At the announcement of his new party a few days ago, Reddy stated that the party’s logo and the flag which are yet to be revealed, would be shared in the next 2 weeks.
Reddy with an unsavory track record of being the culprit of one of India’s biggest mining scams, announced that he was against “divisive politics in the name of religion and caste” and stated that he would like to emulate the philosophy of the revered Kannada poet-philosopher-saint, Basavanna (a 12th century social reformer) who preached social and gender equality and a resurgence in the Shaivite bhakti tradition. He is considered to be the patron guru of the Lingayat/Veerashaiva community, estimated to be around 16% of Karnataka’s population.
A Brief Account Of The Man And His Mining Scam
The story of the Bellary scam is incomplete without the story of the Bellari Reddy brothers. Born to a police constable, the three brothers – Gali Janardhana Reddy, Gali Somashekhara Reddy, and Gali Karunakara Reddy, hail from a middle class background. Their first stint with business started with a small chit fund business named Ennoble India Pvt. Ltd., in 1989. They operated in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It wound up in 1998 followed by cases of fraud and cheating, equivalent to ₹200 crore ($332,280). Soon, they sensed an opportunity in iron ore mining and the rest is history. They ventured into iron ore mining, at the peak of its demand with a mere investment of ₹50 lakh ($83,070) and grew to be the mining magnates of Bellary.
A remote district of Karnataka, Bellary became a famous hub for iron ore extraction during the Beijing Olympics in 2005-06. Mining activities in Bellary were carried out by the state government. However, the rising demand gave private players a chance to be a part of the mining industry. The huge demand for iron led to excessive mining- Bellari once green and fertile, turned into a barren land, devoid of agriculture and with shrinking ecosystems.
The top private players of mining in Bellary were the Reddy brothers, who ensured their monopoly in the sector by excercising their influence with the state government and threatening or eliminating any social or business opposition to their large scale illegal activities. They misused their powers to an extent where they were able get away with erasing government installed signs of the Karnataka – Andhra Pradesh border.
At the time of Janardhan Reddy’s arrest by the CBI in 2011, the Supreme Court had appointed the CEC to look into the illegal mining scandal at Bellary after a record number of complaints from civilians, environmental groups, community leaders and political parties. The CEC report revealed that Janardhana Reddy and his brother Karunakara Reddy, had been mining in areas demarcated as forest areas since 2004 and that they had extracted an exorbitant, unsustainable, environmentally damaging amount of minerals than they were permitted to. A study by the Supreme Court revealed that close to 8.9 sq km of forest cover has been depleted in Bellary between 2000 and 2011 on account of the excessive mining. The Reddy brothers also had the audacity to remove government installed state-boundary demarcation signs such as pillars.
G Janardhana Reddy had been arrested for flouting mining laws through his Andhra Pradesh-based corporation, Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC). The Supreme Court also instructed the investigating agencies to look for irregularities in the Reddy’s Karnataka-based mining corporation, Associated Mining Company (AMC). The court suspected illegal mining in this company as well, because the company had drawn 1 million tons of iron ore from just 10 hectares of the leased area for mining.
In an already sensational scandal of an enormous size for blatant economic, financial, environmental and human resources related crimes, several other complaints were filed against the infamous Bellari Reddy brothers, besides the principal case of illegal mining. The Reddy brothers had invested ₹2,000 crore (US $3.32 billion) in an integrated steel plant, Brahmani Steels, for which the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress party, had sanctioned a large amount of government land. YSR Reddy had also sanctioned ₹3,115.64 acres of land to the Reddy brothers, to set up an airport just 50 km away from an already existing airport! The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) pointed out several irregularities in the sanctioning of the land, besides the fact that it was illegal for private players to set up an airport without prior permission from the Central Government. YSR’s death weakened ‘Reddy links’, although YS Jagan mohan Reddy, YSR Reddy’s son and current A.P chief minister, was later caught by the CBI, with huge amounts of money transferred to him by the Reddy brothers based on their partnership. Current news is indicative of a relationship between Janardhan Reddy and Jagan Reddy that has stayed strong through the years of CBI inquiries and arrests for both of them. Both are currently out on bail.
Will Reddy Be Able To Mine Votes?
The BJP state unit is assessing a possibility of the impact of Reddy’s new party with regards to its own vote share in Bellari and Koppal districts, despite the fact that Janardhan Reddy’s brothers have thus far chosen to remain with the BJP.
Union Minister and BJP senior leader, Pralhad Joshi remarked that no regional party had yet been successful on its own, in the state of Karnataka. Regional parties in the state have had to hitherto rely on political partnerships and coalition politics – a good example being that of the Janata Dal Secular party (JDS). The state’s current Congress president, DK Shivakumar was quick to congratulate Janardhana Reddy. Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader, HD Kumaraswamy said that the former minister’s move was an anticipated one.
The 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election is scheduled to be held in Karnataka before May 2023 to elect all 224 members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Galli Janardhana Reddy of the infamous Karnataka mining scam, fishes for a new avenue to siphon illegally amassed wealth- floats new political party. Reddy was previously a member of the state’s BJP unit and the Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development in the BJP-led Karnataka government from 2008 to 2011. He is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for illegal extraction of iron ore on the Andhra-Karnataka border and several money laundering schemes utilizing huge amounts of black money, amassed through the illegal sale of the country’s natural resources.
Among the most prominent of the money laundering charges being investigated by the CBI, was his “quid pro quo” type of arrangement with the then united Andhra Pradesh’s CM, YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress party. The CBI probed Janardhan’s political and financial links with A.P’s Congress party members, specifically YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the father of the current A.P Chief Minister, YS Jagan Reddy, leader of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). Janardhan Reddy is said to have “invested” in shell companies registered in Jagan Mohan Reddy’s name. Incidentally, Andhra CM Jagan Reddy is also under CBI Investigation for money laundering! Jagan Reddy is a CM currently on bail from a large number of cases for criminal conspiracy and money laundering. In a strange case of cross border political and financial opportunism, Janardhana Reddy had aligned himself to the Congress in Andhra Pradesh and the BJP in Karnataka! The BJP later distanced itself from the tainted member who is still under the CBI scanner for illegal mining and money laundering. From the looks of it, Janardhana Reddy continues to have a friend in the current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Reddy of the YSR Congress party (YSRCP), a party that Jagan Reddy floated in 2011 as a result of disagreements with the A.P unit of the Congress party, after his father’s untimely death in 2009.
Galli Janardhana Reddy is of Telugu origin, as is the case with significant numbers of Telugu-origin people in several border districts of Karnataka, sharing a border with the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. G Janardhan Reddy’s brothers, G Karunakara Reddy and G Somashekar Reddy are currently BJP MLAs from the Harapanahalli and Bellary Assembly constituencies, respectively.
In light of Janardhan Reddy’s recently announced political plans for Karnataka, it is note worthy that in July of this year, Galli Janardhana Reddy had asked for permission to restart mining on the Andhra side of the border. The current YS Jagan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh had announced that it had no objections to the resumption of mining in Andhra.
In March 2010, the Supreme Court had directed a halt to all mining activity in Andhra’s Anantapur district until the mining leases were demarcated on the ground after its Central Empowered Committee (CEC) reported rampant encroachment and recommended that companies guilty of mining outside lease areas be allowed to resume mining and made to pay exemplary penalty.
The apparent shift in Andhra Pradesh state’s stand under the leadership of one of Janardhan Reddy’s “business associates”, has raised eyebrows and riled a number of officials who had painstakingly investigated the various angles of a massive case and helped turn the tide against the Reddy brothers during 2009-2010.
With regards to the question of his electoral impact, only time will tell if Janardhan Reddy’s new vehicle will be able to mine votes.