Renukacharya Dumps Reddys in Favour of Yeddy
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore, Jul 22: Karnataka’s Excise Minister M P Renukacharaya, who shot into limelight following his escapades with nurse Jayalakshmi that have since been settled with a mutual compromise and was one of the staunchest supporters of Bellary mining lords when they launched a no-holds-barred dissidence war against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa last year, has announced that he and his supporters would not be participating in the Bellary to Mysore padayatra and a function organized by the Reddy Brothers in Bellary.
Renukacharaya, who along with many BJP legislators had gone to Hyderabad to carry out the campaign undertaken by Tourism and Infrastructure Minister G Janardhana Reddy and his brother, Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy, for the ouster of Yeddyurappa and later continued his tirade till he was inducted into the state cabinet, ruled out his participation in the rally and function organized by the Bellary Reddy brothers.
The minister was supported by BJP MLAs Gopalakrishna Belur, who hails from the Chief Minister’s Shimoga district, and B P Harish and the trio jointly addressed a news conference in Bangalore on Thursday.
"We stand by the party’s stand in exposing the misdeeds and alleged involvement of Congress and JD(S) leaders in illegal mining and will never tolerate any attempts to malign the image of the Chief Minister or the ruling BJP,” they declared.
However, the trio made it clear that they would participate in the ``padayatra” and any public functions only if they are organised collectively by the State BJP with the support of national BJP leaders.
"We are disciplined and loyal soldiers of the party,” Renukacharya said.
The BJP leaders contended that they would participate only in rallies organised by State BJP president K S Eshwarappa and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
"We don’t want to repeat mistakes committed in the past,” they said referring to the support they extended by them to the Reddy brothers in October last.
Renukacharya and the two BJP MLAs demanded a public apology from Congress and JD(S) leaders who made derogatory remarks against the Chief Minister with regard to illegal mining. ``There is no compromise on this issue especially after the Chief Minister’s offer and decision to order a comphrensive probe into the entire illegal mining issue since 2002 in the state by the state Lokayukta,” the asserted.