In Ballari district, legislators and Ministers associated with illegal mining activities figure in the final list of candidates across political parties.
Six persons with cases of illegal mining pending against them are in the fray from the district. No party can claim to be “clean” on this front, as all three major parties — Congress, BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) — have fielded such candidates. In Ballari City, all three parties have candidates facing cases.
This is the ultimate
To cap it all, G. Janardhan Reddy, mining baron and former Minister who was the alleged “kingpin” of the illegal mining racket in the district, has returned to active politics. Camping on the border of the district he is barred from entering, he has been campaigning in support of his close associate B. Sriramulu in Molakalmur, Chitradurga district, and in Badami, Bagalkot district, where he is pitted against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
He is also working on behalf of other BJP candidates in Ballari and surrounding districts.
The Congress has inducted two of the accused in illegal mining — B.S. Anand Singh and B. Nagendra — into its party fold and also fielded them as its candidates. Mr. Singh, a two-term BJP MLA for Vijayanagar and former Minister, is now trying his luck for the third time as the Congress candidate. He has 16 cases of illegal mining pending against him. Mr. Nagendra, a two-term MLA for Kudligi, is now the Congress candidate for Ballari (ST) constituency. He has the highest — 26 cases — of illegal mining pending against him.
In Ballari City, Anil Lad, Congress MLA who is seeking re-election, has nine cases of illegal mining. G. Somashekhar Reddy of the BJP, one of the Reddy brothers, is accused of bribing a CBI judge to get bail for his brother, Mr. Janardhan Reddy. It also has Hothur Mohammed Iqbal from the JD(S), with two cases of illegal mining pending against him.
T.H. Suresh Babu, a two-term MLA for Kampli and nephew of Mr. Sriramulu is the other candidate with a “tainted” image. He is also accused of a role in bribing the CBI judge to get bail for Mr. Janardhan Reddy.
To prevent the flow of money in these constituencies, as was seen in the past, the Election Commission has appointed a General Observer for Ballari City and Ballari constituencies in addition to six expenditure observers for the district.
