Koppal (Karnataka), May 13 (PTI) Former Karnataka minister and Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP) founder G Janardhana Reddy on Saturday won from the Gangavathi assembly constituency in Koppal district, beating his nearest rival by a margin of 8,266 votes.
Reddy, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had in December 2022 formed the KRPP, snapping his two-decade-long association with the BJP.
KRPP founder got 66,213 votes against 57,947 votes polled by his Congress rival Iqbal Ansari. The outgoing BJP MLA was in the third place with 29,167 votes, according to the Election Commission website.
Reddy’s wife Gali Aruna Lakshmi lost from the Bellari City assembly seat to Congress candidate Nara Bharath Reddy by a margin of 37,863 votes.
Lakshmi got only 48,577 votes, while the Congress candidate bagged 86,440 votes. Outgoing BJP MLA G Somashekara Reddy was in the third place with 37,155 votes.
The KRPP won only one seat in the assembly polls.
Janardhana Reddy had been by and large inactive politically for nearly 12 years since the time he was arrested by the CBI for his alleged role in the mining scam. Ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, he had campaigned for his close friend and minister B Sriramulu in the Molakalmuru assembly seat.
Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015 and several conditions were imposed by the apex court in its bail order, including prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in Karnataka and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
Reddy first came to the political limelight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections when he campaigned for Sushma Swaraj who contested against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary. PTI LUX SMN
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