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Sriramulu could face same fate as Reddys, BJP says as Karnataka minister threatens to quit

Karnataka Health Minister B. Sriramulu has demanded deputy CM post for a Nayaka leader, but BJP seems to be in no mood to give in.

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Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister B. Sriramulu has threatened to resign if he or someone from his Nayaka community isn’t made deputy chief minister, but the BJP is refusing to blink in the face of his demand.

Sriramulu had told the media in Raichur Thursday: “Let them give the deputy CM post to any of us — Ramesh Jarkiholi, or me, or any other Scheduled Tribe leader from the Nayaka community. Or else, I will seriously consider resigning from the cabinet.”

He had also threatened to quit on 25 December, but for another reason. “If the Karnataka government does not announce 7.5 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for the ST community, I will resign immediately,” Sriramulu had said.

However, Karnataka BJP spokesperson Vaman Acharya hinted that the party wasn’t afraid to sideline him. “Threatening to quit is all about posturing. Let him realise that if he makes demands like this, he will end up facing the same fate as the Reddy brothers did,” he said.

Sriramulu is closely associated with the Reddy brothers of Ballari, the most famous of whom is Gali Janardhana Reddy, the main accused in a multi-crore illegal mining scam.

Another brother, Ballari MLA G. Somashekhar Reddy, had told ThePrint last week that it was “the demand of the Ballari people” to see Sriramulu as deputy CM.

However, Karnataka already has three deputy CMs in place, and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and the BJP have been contemplating doing away with the post entirely. So, by making the demand at this time, Sriramulu has put the BJP in a spot of bother.


Also read: Karnataka bypoll success a reminder that ‘fighter’ Yediyurappa is indispensable for BJP


Sriramulu’s importance to BJP

Sources in the BJP say Sriramulu’s statements are a way of sending a message to the high command that the Nayaka community could withdraw support from the party if he is not made deputy CM.

Sriramulu is among the tallest Nayaka leaders in the Karnataka BJP, and has been a long-time aspirant for the deputy CM’s chair. But now, according to sources, he has begun to feel insecure within the party, and is lobbying with the state and the central leadership to give him the post he wants.

He has been the BJP’s ticket to a backward-class consolidation in Karnataka. Scheduled Tribes constitute close to 6.6 per cent of Karnataka’s population, and the Nayakas make up 85 per cent of the STs.

Sriramulu served as the MP from Ballari between 2014 and 2018, and has been indispensable for the BJP — the decision to field him against incumbent Congress CM Siddaramaiah in Badami, and the fact that he ran him extremely close, speak volumes about his stature. Sriramulu also fought and won from Molakalmuru.


Also read: Minister warns of post-Godhra situation in Karnataka if ‘patience of majority is tested’


 

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