A goods train chugs along the hills of Sandur reminding of a gory past of the district. After witnessing unprecedented loot of iron ore by many powerful neo-rich, including the infamous Reddy brothers, Bellary is now seeing an intense political battle which has once again brought the mining scandal into focus.
Bellary is quite upset with the previous elections, but the simmering discontent is evident and people are looking for a change to undo the wrong. In Bellary, the lok Sabha elections will be held in a changing political scenario and in the absence of incarcerated mining baron Janardhan Reddy, making it all the more significant.
The River Tungabhadra, the lifeline of the district and a reminder of the great cultural past and glory of Vijayanagara empire, is witnessing a great churning to elect a representative to re-establish its identity.
Fifteen years after Bellary gave its maiden, politically decisive victory to Congress president Sonia Gandhi against BJP’s Sushma Swaraj, close aide of Reddy brothers, Sriramulu, is fighting it out to establish his clout without Janardhan Reddy.
B Sriramulu — who has just merged his party BSR with the BJP — is taking on Congress’s HY Hanumanthappa, a known face in Bellary. With the promise to remove the mining sector ban Sriramalu is looking ahead to consolidate his vote share which is critical to his political future.
“He was always a controversial kid in the loop. He is fighting to gain his lost glory. Victory in this election will bring him back to track,” said professor at Kannada University, Hampi. Bellary is witnessing a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP. Sriramulu, with many of his close associates in jail, is still popular and has sympathy. He is taking on NY Hanumanthappa of the Congress, a former chief justice of Odisha high court.
The district was a strong bastion of the Congress from 1952 - 1999. However, after Reddy brothers came to power the Congress lost its fort and is still struggling to regain it. Since 2004, the BJP has been ruling here, but lost badly in 2013 Assembly elections.
A majority of the voting population is STs, followed by SCs, lingayats, Muslims, Brahmins and OBCs. Both Sriramulu and Hanumanthappa belong to the Valmiki community (ST), which can change the fortunes of candidates. The Congress, meanwhile, is relying on the votes of SCs, minorities and OBCs. BJP is wooing ST, lingayat and Brahmin.
Despite Reddy brothers diminishing clout, Sriramulu, their Man Friday, is making his best pitch to the voters. His return to the BJP had ruffled the feathers of senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj.