B. Sriramulu will launch his poll campaign from Hadagali from Saturday.
Talking to presspersons here on Friday, Mr. Sriramulu said he had decided to file his nomination papers either on March 24 or 26.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Sriramulu and his followers visited the BJP office here where he was formally welcomed by the BJP district unit leaders including its president Nemiraj Nayak.
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From there, the group went to the BJP’s election office, which was earlier the office of BSR Congress and decked it up with the BJP flag, portraits and wall posters bearing the photographs of senior BJP leaders.
G. Karunakar Reddy, the eldest of the Reddy brothers, who continued to be loyal to the BJP, and his younger brother G. Somashekar Reddy, Chairman of Karnataka Milk Federation, were conspicuous by their absence.
When asked whether Mr. Karunakar Reddy would be campaigning for him, Mr. Sriramulu said he would not invite anybody for the purpose and would be touring the constituency with his followers. However, he said he would request the BJP State unit leaders to include Bellary in the itinerary of some of the senior leaders of the party to address public meetings.
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When questioned about some of the BSR Congress workers reportedly feeling ‘abandoned’ by him, Mr. Sriramulu said it was their personal opinion.
He said he had announced the decision of merging BSR Congress with the BJP after consulting with his party’s leaders and workers.
He said the other leaders, elected representatives and leaders of BSR Congress would soon be inducted into the BJP, adding that the matter had got delayed due to some technical reasons.