35,000 Crore Scam Accused Reddy Brothers Back To Politics, Will Fight Election On BJP's Ticket

On March 31, 2018, Amit Shah while he was in Karnataka, said that he and his party had nothing to do with Gali Janardhan Reddy. This means that either he is not aware of the happenings inside his own party or he was not saying the entire truth.

The reason for such a conclusion is because Reddy’s brother, Somashekhar Reddy, is the party’s candidate for Ballari City. On Friday, the eldest brother, Karunakar Reddy, was given the ticket from Harapanahalli, also in Ballari district. His close associate B Sriramulu filed his nomination papers as the BJP candidate from Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district, reported The Economic Times.

A Supreme Court decision barred Janardhan Reddy to be physically present in Ballari, so he has set up base 45 kms from the city at the border of Ballari and Chitradurga. In 2011, the then chief minister Yeddyurappa and two Reddy brothers – Janardhana and Karunakara, besides Sriramulu were indicted for illegal mining. During that time, Janardhan Reddy ruled Ballari. The same three faces are back now and might prove difficult for Congress to win in Ballari.

Who are the Reddy brothers?

Gali Janardhan Reddy, a former BJP Minister and the iron-ore giant, was involved in a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining case in Karnataka.

“After careful consideration of the material placed before me, including the FIR, charge sheet filed by CBI and the submissions by the learned counsels, I am convinced prima facie that the defendants (Reddy and wife) had committed scheduled offences, generated proceeds of crime and ploughed them into properties provisionally attached,” the court of the Adjudicating Authority for PMLA and Chairman, K Raamamoorthy, said during one of the hearings.

Interestingly, they were accused of illegal mining in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

There are in total 63 accusations against Janardhan Reddy. Out of these cases, 10 cases pertain to Belekeri port. Mr Somashekar Reddy has also been in jail for trying to bribe a CBI judge for the bail of his brother.

Wedding during demonetisation

During demonetisation, when most of the citizens were standing in queues outside ATMs and were facing a major cash crunch, Janardhan Reddy’s daughter got married. It was estimated that the wedding was a 500-crore affair. It took place in Palace grounds, Bangalore. The Vijayanagara empire was recreated. With chariots, foreign dancers, helipads, 1,500 hotel rooms, 2,000 cabs, 3,000 bouncers, the wedding hosted some 50,000 VIP guests. The wedding was attended by BS Yeddyurappa and another former Karnataka chief minister Jagdish Shettar.