Karnataka BJP MP Sreeramulu contesting assembly polls

Sreeramulu, 47, filed the nomination in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the party's Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Image: PTI

Bengaluru: BJP's Lok Sabha lawmaker from Karnataka's Ballari, B. Sreeramulu on Saturday filed nomination to contest in the May 12 assembly elections from Molakamuru (reserved) seat in Chitradurga district. Sreeramulu, 47, filed the nomination in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the party's Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa. Molakamuru constituency is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). As per his poll affidavit, Sreeramulu declared his income and assets, including that of his wife Bhagyalakshmi, to be valued at Rs 18.17 crore. He has disclosed cash and bank deposits valued at over Rs 4.5 crore and other immovable assets including property and buildings worth over Rs 12 crore. Sreeramulu was the Health and Family Welfare and Tourism Minister from 2008-2011 in the state's first Bharatiya Janata Party government, but stepped down from the post and resigned from the party to protest the alleged ill-treatment by the party to then cabinet minister and Ballari mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy. He had rejoined and contested the Lok Sabha election in 2014 as a BJP candidate from the rich mining district of Ballari. After quitting the BJP in 2011, Sreeramulu floated a regional outfit Badava Shramika Raitha Congress (BSR Congress) and won four seats in the 2013 assembly polls, after which he quit his own party to rejoin BJP. However, his BSR Congress remains and is identified as a BJP ally in the state. Sreeramulu is also one of the two MPs among the candidates announced so far by the BJP to contest the assembly elections, with the other being Yeddyurappa, ALok Sabha member from Shivamogga. In a related development, the opposition BJP's sitting MLA from Molakamuru, S. Thippeswamy, has decided to contest from the constituency as an Independent after he was not re-nominated by the party and in protest against the selection of Sreeramulu, an outsider, from Ballari district. Till Friday, the BJP has announced 213 candidates to contest the 224-member Karnataka assembly polls. The party had, in its second list of 82 candidates released on April 16, fielded G. Somashekar Reddy, younger brother of Janardhan Reddy, from Ballari City segment. The third list released on Friday had included A Karunakar Reddy, another of Reddy's brothers, from Harapanahalli in Ballari.