After the opulent wedding of his daughter in which he allegedly splurged `500 crore, former Karnataka BJP Minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy has been on the Income-Tax Department’s radar.
According to I-T Department sources, the officials on Monday raided Reddy’s Obulapuram mining company in Bellary and several other locations of high-end event management firms, catering and multi-media service providers who were engaged for the extravagant wedding. Reddy’s daughter’s opulent wedding was discussed in Parliament and became an embarrassment for the BJP.
Reddy who was a Minister in BS Yeddyurappa’s Cabinet, had been arrested in 2011 on the charges of illegal mining of iron ore and jailed for over three years.
The five-day wedding extravagansa of his daughter Bramhini at the palace grounds in Bengaluru at a time when the country is undergoing the process of demonetisation and people are facing severe hardship due to shortage of cash to meet their daily needs has come under severe criticism.
Among others, the lavish wedding was criticised by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
However, BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa, leader of the Opposition BJP’s Jagadish Shettar, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwar and Power Minister DK Shivakumar of the Congress attended the much publicised event.
Even though it is seen as Reddy’s re-entry into politics, many are questioning the lavish wedding and the source of the money. In view of the ensuing Assembly polls in 2018 political analysts say Reddy might play a major role in garnering votes for BJP in Hyderabad and Karnataka region.
Sprawling palace grounds, where Reddy hosted his daughter’s wedding, presented almost a surreal picture as Reddy’s daughter Bramhani entered into a wedlock with Rajeev Reddy, the son of a leading businessman from Andhra Pradesh, with rituals conducted by a battery of priests from the famous Tirumala temple. The grandeur of the wedding was such that huge sets replicating Vijaya Vitthala temple of Hampi, the seat of the glorious erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire.