Clearly indicating that the doors of his soon to be launched BSR party are open to former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa should he decide to quit the BJP, former minister and Reddy brothers' loyalist, B. Sreeramulu claimed on Wednesday that national parties had hatched a conspiracy to destroy both his and mining czar Gali Janardhan Reddy's political careers.
Speaking to reporters at Marlanahalli in Gangavati taluk, he recalled that his association with Mr Yeddyurappa went back a decade and he knew him very well. Describing Mr Yeddyurappa as a holy cow, Mr Sreeramulu said, “Those around him are misguiding him.”
Advising the former Chief Minister not to lose courage as the raids carried out by CBI sleuths on his residences were politically motivated, Mr Sreeramulu claimed national parties were using the investigating agency to tarnish the state's image. "Both Yeddyurappa and Janardhan Reddy will emerge clean in the cases before the courts," he added with confidence.
"I don't know whether there is a functioning government in the state or not. Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda keeps smiling in Bengaluru, but has failed to wipe the tears of the people affected by the drought. Its the IAS and IPS officers who are running the state rather than the Chief Minister, " he alleged.
Claiming the state was heading for a great many political changes mid- June, he said he would officially announce the launch of his BSR party on June 17 at a convention in Bengaluru and soon afterwards go on a hunger strike for two days with lakhs of farmers at the site of the Tungabhadra dam if the government failed to come up with a plan to desilt it.