Badami is a stronghold of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Kuruba community
Highlights
- Badami is Siddaramaiah's "Plan B" seat after Chamundeshwari
- Badami is a stronghold of the Chief Minister's Kuruba community
- B Sriramulu is the closest aide of Gali Janardhan Reddy
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will face BJP parliamentarian B Sriramulu, a key aide of the mining-millionaire Reddy brothers, in Karnataka's Badami on the May 12 election.
Badami in north Karnataka is Siddaramaiah's "Plan B" seat after Chamundeshwari, where he has won five times and lost twice. He had reportedly asked the Congress for a safe seat as a backup to Chamundeshwari, where he expects a tough fight.
But with Sriramulu, the Chief Minister has been forced into a
second high-stakes battle.
"I am least bothered by who will contest against me there (Badami). Whether it is Sriramulu or Yeddyurappa. I have faith in the voters, they will not leave me," Siddaramaiah said.
Sriramulu may withdraw from Molakalmuru, where his name had been announced earlier.
Sriramulu is the closest aide of Gali Janardhan Reddy - one-third of the Reddy brothers who are credited with helping the BJP win its first-ever state in south India in 2008 by cobbling together the required numbers when the BJP fell just short of a majority.
B Sriramulu is the closest aide of Gali Janardhan Reddy
The Reddys, particularly Janardhan Reddy, are involved in several cases concerning rampant illegal mining in Ballari.
Two of the Reddy brothers, Karunakara and Somashekhara, have been named party candidates in a region where they have considerable influence.
Mr Yeddyurappa travelled to Badami this morning for what sources believe is a grand show of strength on Siddaramaiah's turf.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who accompanied Mr Yeddyurappa, said: "Siddaramaiah, despite being a Chief Minister, is scared, running from Chamundeshwari to Badami, from Badami to Kopar, but he now cannot run away from people. The people will defeat him."
Badami is a stronghold of the Chief Minister's Kuruba community. The constituency has 2.5 lakh voters - 55,000 from the Kuruba community and the rest from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and 25,000 are Muslim. Sriramulu is believed to be highly influential with Scheduled Tribe voters.