Former minister, B Sreeramulu, who is getting ready to go on a padayatra from Bidar to Bengaluru and tour the state before he launches his Badava Shramika Raitha (BSR) party, is busy re-fitting the luxurious `5 crore bus, Rukmini, that belongs to his jailed friend, Gali Janardhan Reddy, to do the journey in comfort.
Rukmini has been sent to a high-end bus service station in Pune for body building and redesigning to fit the image of the BSR party, according to sources. The luxury bus, named after Mr Janardhan Reddy’s mother, is the only high-end vehicle he owns that has not been seized by the CBI investigating charges of illegal mining against him.
The bus comes complete with a bullet- proof cabin at the top from which to address public meetings, a bedroom , a built-in kitchen, satellite phone, plasma TV, and Internet facility. Mr Reddy used the bus in the 2008 Assembly and 2009 Bellary Lok Sabha elections and also loaned it to senior BJP leaders, L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa during their visits to Bellary.
Other than the bus, Mr Reddy's fleet of luxury cars, including the Rolls Royce Phantom, a Volkswagen, a Continental GT Coupea, a Range Rover sports car, a Mercedes-Benz limousine, a Toyota Land Cruiser, an Audi and several Mitsubishi Pajeros have been seized by the CBI, in addition to a dozen indigenously manufactured cars. They have remained in his garage in police custody since his arrest on September 5 last year. A Bell helicopter , also named Rukmini , has been handed over to Deccan Charters Ltd for safe custody at the Jakkur aerodrome in Bengaluru after it was seized by the CBI .