Karnataka Transport Minister B Sriramulu on Monday said the Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha floated by his close friend and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy would not affect the BJP in the 2023 Assembly election.
“BJP is a national party. We have our workers. They won't go side with anyone else. There's no question of our votes getting cut or split,” Sriramulu told reporters at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.
Reddy, miffed with the BJP cold-shouldering him, announced Sunday that he would contest the Assembly election from Gangavathi in Koppal under his Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha’s banner.
“As a close friend, I wish him well,” Sriramulu said. “But, as a minister in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s Cabinet, I’m working with the objective of making Karnataka Congress-free. Under Bommai’s leadership, we’re trying to win 150 seats,” he said.
The minister said he had already discussed Reddy's matter with Bommai and senior leaders. “Even now, I’m willing to talk to senior leaders.”
Refusing to debate the merits and demerits of Reddy’s decision to start a new party, Sriramulu maintained that the BJP is strong in the Kalyana Karnataka region.
Sriramulu had floated the BSR Congress ahead of the 2013 Assembly polls, which hit the BJP’s prospects along with B S Yediyurappa’s KJP. Insisting that he would not do anything embarrassing, Sriramulu said: “The BJP has made me a minister, MLA for six times and MP once. The party has given me all these opportunities.”
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