Reddys take centrestage yet again

For the saffron party, sacrificing the Reddys is not as easy as it did away with Chief  Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Despite being indicted and after being recommended by the Lokayukta that they be dropped from the Cabinet, the trio thinks it is indispensable.

State party president K S Eshwrappa has said the party wouldn’t want someone indicted by the ombudsman to continue in the Cabinet.

But in the present situation, the BJP is wary of taking any action against the Bellary brothers lest they force their staunch supporters — who are also MLAs numbering about 15 — to give up the party membership.

Ministers Basavaraj Bommai and R Ashoka met Janardhana Reddy at his residence on Thursday morning.

On record, Reddy said he would abide by the decisions of the party central leadership. But in the same breath, he said, “We are studying the mining report. We will tell the country the truth in the next two days.”

The Reddy camp too, like Yeddyurappa, has been arguing that no new charges had been levelled against them, or the mining companies owned by them in the Lokayukta report. Some of the allegations made against their companies have been investigated by different investigation agencies, they argued.

Ministerial posts

In case they lose their Cabinet berths, Janardhana Reddy will push his brother Somashekhara and his ardent supporter Suresh Babu’s names for ministerial posts.

The Bellary brothers have reportedly told the high command that they plump for Jagadish Shettar as the new chief minister and vehemently opposed D V Sadananda Gowda’s candidature.

Meanwhile, State party in charge Dharmendra Pradhan met Janardhana Reddy on Thursday evening.