Karnataka elections: With Congress fielding Na. Ra. Bharath Reddy, Ballari is set for high-voltage triangular fight
The Hindu
The Ballari (General) constituency will see a high-voltage triangular fight between the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the newly formed Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections
After much churning, the Congress finalised Na. Ra. Bharath Reddy for Ballari (General) constituency, paving the way for a high-voltage triangular fight between the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the newly formed Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP), founded by former Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy who recently broke away from BJP.
The BJP announced G. Somashekhar Reddy, brother of Mr. Janardhan Reddy, and the KRPP has given a ticket to Aruna Lakshmi, wife of Mr. Janardhan Reddy.
Senior Congressmen Diwakar Babu and Anil Lad, apart from Allam Prakash, son of former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Allam Veerabhadrappa, tried to secure party ticket using their proximity to All-India Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge.
However, Mr. Bharath Reddy, a young leader and son of an influential politician and former MLA for Kurugodu constituency Suryanarayana Reddy, managed to get the ticket, with his early voter outreach programmes.
Ballari has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi chose to contest the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Ballari and won against nearest rival, the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj.
However, the mining boom changed the balance of power for a brief period with Mr. Janardhan Reddy emerging as a strong leader. In the 2004 Assembly elections, his close associate B. Sriramulu won the Ballari segment on the BJP ticket defeating Diwakar Babu of the Congress by 6,711 votes
In the 2008 Assembly elections, Mr. Somashekhar Reddy defeated the Congress’ Anil Lad by 1,022 votes.
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