Bengaluru: Nearly 14 years after the illegal mining scam changed Karnataka’s political landscape, its alleged kingpin Gali Janardhana Reddy is likely to make his way into Ballari district on Thursday after the Supreme Court lifted the ban that was in place since 2011.
At one point in time, Reddy rubbed shoulders with India’s richest and powerful personalities. His fame, opulence, palatial home with at least two helicopters in which he flew for work, propelled him to national and international headlines.
His fall was as swift as his meteoric rise, especially since the submitting of two reports between 2008 and 2011 by the then Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, that led not just to the collapse of his empire but the entire Ballari mining syndicate and took a toll on the political entities dependent on it.
“Good people face some problems and I was projected in a bad light that added to my plight. In the 14 years, the attempts to finish me off politically…today I have taken a political rebirth and reentered assembly,” Reddy told reporters Monday in Bengaluru.
Reddy’s political career appears to have come full circle as he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was jailed, formed his own outfit Karnataka Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) and won from Gangavati in 2023 and earlier this year, merged his party with the BJP. At the time of floating his new outfit in December last year, he had said that he was “humiliated” by BJP heavyweight Amit Shah.
The lifting of his ban on entry to Ballari comes at a time when his main rival, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, faces mounting charges of corruption.
In 2012, Siddaramaiah was the Leader of the Opposition when he spearheaded a 320 km foot march from Bengaluru to Ballari that forced then CM, B.S.Yediyurappa to resign and later quit the party, reducing the BJP from 110 seats in 2008 to to 40 in 2013.
Reddy was instrumental in helping the BJP form its first ever government in south India in 2008, and it was in this time that several MLAs were poached by the ruling party. As a BJP minister, he had even herded nearly half of the MLAs from his own party to a resort to demand Yediyurappa to step down as CM.
‘Modest profile’
In the 2023 Karnataka election affidavit, Reddy declared that his total assets were Rs 37.2 crore with no liabilities. He also listed nearly 20 cases against him, most of them pertaining to illegal mining.
His wife G.Lakshmi Aruna declared that she had assets worth Rs 250 crore, including 84 kg in diamonds and gold, and 437 kg in silver.
These figures paled in comparison to the thousands of crores he allegedly had at his disposal at the peak of his prowess in late 2000s.
His daughter’s wedding in Bengaluru’s Palace grounds in November 2016—barely a week after demonetisation—was estimated to be a Rs 500 crore affair. At one point, RangeRovers were called the ‘Tata Sumos’ of Ballari by local residents as these luxury cars would zip through the gravel roads within the district.
In 2011, he signed a Rs 36,000 crore MoU for a proposed steel plant worth Rs 36,000 crore in Ballari—a deal bigger than Lakshmi Mittal-led Arcelor—attracting attention.
Ever since Janardhana Reddy was denied entry into Ballari, his aide B.Sriramulu has been incharge of the district and its affairs. However, Sriramulu lost in the 2023 assembly elections as well the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the district. Both his brothers also lost their seats in 2023, a development seen by some as an indication of the waning influence of the Reddy brothers.
Most political observers believe that any perception of rift within the family is only for “public consumption” and that they are still together.
In 2023, Janardhana Reddy fielded his wife against his brother Somashekar Reddy from Ballari city. Both lost. But Janardhana Reddy successfully contested on a KRPP ticket from Gangavati in neighbouring Koppal district.
Though Reddy is viewed as the illegal iron-ore kingpin, his popularity is largely intact among a large section of the population, especially those who worked for him during his peak. Reddy’s astronomical rise during the peak of illegal mining was seen in the context of jobs and not through the prism of him being a law breaker, local residents said.
“Any allegations that he broke the law did not matter to the people here. They saw him as the person who built their homes, provided jobs and helped anyone who asked for it,” Vinayak, a local businessman, said.
Others are not so sure. “There will be some enthusiasm within the party workers who are planning a big celebration on his return. But he will still be the MLA of Gangavati till 2028 and very few people remember him now,” Ballari-based advocate and activist Rajashekar told ThePrint.
Reddy imminent return to Ballari comes ahead of the assembly bypolls in Sandur, which was home to one of several mines operated by the former minister.
‘Republic of Bellary’
Janardhana Reddy’s father Chenga Reddy was a police constable. The mining baron is the youngest of the four children. His two other brothers—G.Somashekara Reddy and G.Karunakar Reddy—are still with the BJP but, over the years, have grown apart from each other.
Reddy lost his father when he was around 20 years old in 1990 and then started a ‘finance company’ or money lending business. By his own claims, he opened 125 branches. This company, Enoble Chits, did well for some time but the brothers nearly went bankrupt towards the end of the decade, people aware of the developments told ThePrint.
“They were involved in all sorts of illegal activities but their business was down…nearly bankrupt. This is when Sushma Swaraj made her entry into Ballari in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections to contest against Sonia Gandhi,” Rajashekar, an activist and advocate from Ballari, said.
The Reddy brothers and their long-time aide Sriramulu were at the forefront of the BJP leader’s campaign giving her a chance to take on Gandhi in what was long considered a Congress bastion.
This closeness to Swaraj, one of the BJP’s biggest national leaders, ignited their astronomical rise. The Reddy brothers fondly referred to Swaraj as ‘amma’ (mother), and she was a regular to their homes every year on Varamahalakshmi festival.
In 2001, their fortunes changed when they entered the iron-ore business by setting up the Obalapuram Mining Company, on the border of Karnataka and then undivided Andhra Pradesh.
The brothers also had a close relationship with former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S.R.Reddy.
According to documents filed by multiple stakeholders in the Supreme Court, the Reddy brothers took licences to mine in Andhra Pradesh and do their business in Karnataka. The accusations include altering state boundaries.
A 466-page report by Justice Hegde records that between April 2006 and July 2010, Karnataka lost Rs 16,085 crore due to illegal mining. One chapter of this report describes the district of Ballary as the “Republic of Bellary”.
“They had good political connections and were asked to enter the mining businesses. The Reddy’s then benefitted from the mining boom, especially with unprecedented demand coming in from China. Soon power followed as all the brothers became MLAs and then they started to take complete control of the district and its affairs,” Tapal Ganesh, an activist and witness in the Reddy case, told ThePrint.
He was assaulted several times and was provided protection by the courts. However, since last year, Ganesh’s security has been withdrawn.
Though he believes that all testimonies have been recorded by the court, there is a palpable fear among detractors with the return of Janaradhan. But, Ganesh said that the cases against Reddy are pending and his return to Ballari is not temporary relief to the mining baron but a break before he is convicted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Arrest, FIRs didn’t stop ‘anti-graft crusader’ TJ Abraham. Before Siddaramaiah, 4 CMs drew his fire