Reddy, who floated a new party in December last year after fallout with the BJP, defeated his nearest rival, the Congress’s Iqbal Ansari, by a margin of 8,266 votes.
Mining baron helped BJP form its first govt in the South and dominated state politics for years, but has now been arrested in a Rs 600-crore Ponzi scam case.
Once a Congress stronghold, Ballari saw Sonia Gandhi beat Sushma Swaraj before the controversial Reddy brothers delivered the seat to BJP for 14 years.
BJP hopes Janardhan Reddy, who faces more charges than most politicians, will deliver most of the 23 seats in his territory — 10% of the assembly’s strength.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in his 466-page report detailed the mining scam in Karnataka’s Ballari district which cost the state an estimated Rs 16,085 crore.
Since their rise in 2008, the Reddys have promised to convert Ballari into one of India’s most progressive cities, but nothing has changed on the ground so far.
While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.
Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.
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