A day after the state’s former minister shocked the ruling party into third place in the Bellary byelection, a triumphant B. Sreeramulu who travelled to Hyderabad to celebrate with his “mentor” Janardhan Reddy, languishing in jail overs
involvement in the illegal mining scam, was preparing to deliver another body-blow by drawing five Independents to his side.
Sources close to Mr Sreeramulu indicated that the Valmiki strongman whose margin of victory defied all predictions could announce the launch of his new party before he takes oath as a new legislator.
Adding further weight to the new party will be the five Independents who will operate as a ginger group allied to him, who will go head to head with the Sadananda Gowda government, and a possible future alignment with Ahinda leaders, a grouping which has long been in search of a leader. Set to embark on an extensive tour of the state, particularly the northern districts, Sreeramulu, in the throes of giving birth to a new regional political party will also rope in the four BJP legislators, suspended by the party for allying with him.
Sriramulu may have no plans to dethrone this government right now, but he is actively preparing a roadmap whereby his small league of independents and rebels become a force to reckon with, both inside and outside the Assembly.
“We are encouraged by the vote which cut across caste and community as we try to make this front popular across a cross-section of people and prepare the ground for his yet to be launched new regional party,” said sources close to Sriramulu.
Sriramulu is said to be aware that in its remaining term, the government
will create many hurdles for him in local administration, cut special grants
and schemes for his and other loyalists’ constituencies and order enquiries
into many alleged irregularities that happened during the heyday of the
Sriramulu-Reddy reign in the district, sources added.