M.K. VIDYARANYA writes from Bangalore: Is the Congress begining to fish in the troubled waters of the BJP, and is the Grand Old Party inclined to share power with the Reddy brothers in Karnataka if the BJP is unable to thrash out a compromise in its “Gateway to the South” by this evening?
Sources in New Delhi say that the Congress, through Union law minister and former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily, has conveyed it to the mining lords that if they were able to muster the strength of 79 legislators, the Congress would consider supporting them in case B.S. Yediyurappa is asked by the Governor H.R. Bharadwaj, to prove his majority on the floor of the house.
(Moily is the Congress functionary in charge of Andhra Pradesh and therefore close YSR‘s son Jagan Mohan Reddy, a business partner of the Reddys. Moily, who now writes long books on the epics and headed the administrative reforms committee, was also at the centre of the infamous ‘Moily Tapes’ to overthrow Ramakrishna Hegde‘s Janata Party government in the mid-1980s by buying up MLAs.)
Meanwhile, in a significant realignment, a number of BJP legislators who are supporting the Reddy brothers are apparently pressuring the national BJP leaders to choose Gali Janardhana Reddy as the BJP legislature party leader and make him CM, if it did not prefer any other candidate.
This follows the rebuff apparently delivered by the “former future prime minister of India”, L.K. Advani, to the speaker Jagadish Shettar when he was put up before the party high command as a possible alternative. The shift, say party observers, might be a short-term ploy on the part of Reddy brothers if they are unable to achieve their ostensible aim of making Shettar as the CM to woo the Lingayat community for future gains.
Photograph: A sandalwood model of the Vidhana Soudha on sale in Bangalore (Krishnamurthy Vidyaranya)
Tags: B.S. Yeddyurappa, B.S. Yediyurappa, BJP, Churumuri, G. Janardhana Reddy, Sans Serif, Veerappa Moily
6 November 2009 at 3:12 pm
“Sources in New Delhi say that the Congress, through Union law minister and former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily, has conveyed it to the mining lords that if they were able to ….”
Has Veerappa Moily conveyed this with the blessings of “inner voice” or not?
6 November 2009 at 3:33 pm
Loved the timing of the story ! How bloody true…..
6 November 2009 at 6:51 pm
What about JD(S)??????????????
6 November 2009 at 7:50 pm
Everything in Indian politics is on sale if you have the $ and euros.
7 November 2009 at 6:14 am
Like Andy said, loved the bloody timimg and what a picture to go with the post !
7 November 2009 at 9:26 am
Of course it is not silly. Has not the sale already been going on for quite some years.
7 November 2009 at 6:53 pm
Given a chance the “Brothers” in arms will also encroach this monument – can any bet against this?
8 November 2009 at 1:05 am
@NS Rao
I will bet against your claim. I am sure some other persons/groups will encroach on it before the brothers get a chance. You see, all our politicians are highly enterprising and highly competitive people. They will not let some brothers cheat them of their encroachment rights so easily!
9 November 2009 at 12:12 pm
Who knows this monument might have been already leased to R brothers or some similar goondas…
9 November 2009 at 8:15 pm
@Shining one -
Given the rate at which the “brothers” are arm-twisting their party leaders to bend backwards to their vociferous demands and holding the complete state to ransom, I will not be surprised if our honourable CM “donates” (agrees for encroachment) this monument to ensure he is sitting (by not shitting) in his chair. For purposes of record, there may be a document to register the monument to “brothers” to ensure all legal hassles are covered.
Its just like “ಬೇಲಿಯೇ ಎದ್ದು ಹೊಲ ಮೇಯ್ದಂತೆ “. I am sure the brothers are presently capable of handing any pressure surrounding them.
11 November 2009 at 12:23 am
considering they are in the mining business, im sure the brothers are capable of putting pressue on others with all the earth and mineral ores they dig up. what say?
:D