More trouble in Karnataka BJP as 'insulted' ex-minister B Sriramulu offers to quit

Bengaluru: The BJP, which is already battling infighting, is heading towards fresh trouble with former minister B Sriramulu offering to quit, angered by a top leader accusing him of contributing to the party’s defeat in the November 2024 Sandur bypoll.

In Sandur, where the BJP has never won, its candidate Bangaru Hanumanthu lost against Congress by 9,649 votes.

Sparks flew at the BJP’s core committee meeting late on Tuesday night after Sriramulu was accused of doing little to help Hanumanthu win. The accusation, according to Sriramulu, came from BJP national general secretary Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal no less.

Agrawal is in charge of the party’s affairs in Karnataka.

“In the meeting, Agrawal made a direct allegation that BJP lost in Sandur because of me,” Sriramulu, a core committee member and one of the BJP’s prominent ST faces, told reporters. “I am extremely hurt and insulted with the allegation.”

Sriramulu, the BJP’s warhorse, said he confronted Agrawal. “I asked him to state the basis of his allegation. I campaigned till the last day. I said in the meeting that I'd quit if the party had suffered losses because of me,” he said.

The scuffle could be the result of a fallout between Sriramulu and his one-time friend Gali Janardhan Reddy, the mining baron who used the Sandur bypoll as an opportunity to re-establish himself in the Ballari district, which was once his stronghold.

“After entering Ballari, Reddy has formed his own groups and goes around bad-mouthing me. His conspiracy is to finish me off politically,” Sriramulu said, claiming that Reddy might have bad-mouthed him to Agrawal.

Sriramulu is also angry with BJP state president BY Vijayendra for throwing him under the bus. “I asked Vijayendra to speak up against the allegation. As president, he should know how much I had worked for the party,” he said, adding that other core committee members Basavaraj Bommai, R Ashoka, CT Ravi, DV Sadananda Gowda and Nirmal Kumar Surana did not approve of the way he was spoken to.

“I might have lost two elections (2023 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha). But that doesn't mean I should be spoken about like this,” Sriramulu said.

Sriramulu's outburst comes at a time when infighting has hurt the BJP with a parallel team led by MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal publicly taking on Vijayendra.