The anticipated revolt by Reddy camp loyalists, led by former health minister B. Sriramulu who resigned form the Assembly on Sunday, seems to fizzled out all of a sudden after the arrest of mining baron Janardhan Reddy by the CBI on Monday.
State BJP leaders are no doubt a relived lot and are now confident that they can prevent Reddy loyalists from taking any hasty decision. The party has already sent feelers to Mr Sriramulu to withdraw his resignation while stern messages have been sent to Reddy loyalists in Bellary and neighbouring districts that if they rebel, they are sure to face stringent action, sources said.
The arrest of Mr Reddy came as a bolt from the blue for state BJP leaders even as they were bracing to tackle the Sriramulu revolt after the party denied him a Cabinet berth. Soon after Janardhan Reddy’s arrest, BJP leaders held a closed door meeting in Bengaluru to discuss their future strategy.
“We have advised Mr Sriramulu to withdraw his resignation. We will always support a leader in a crisis when he is in the party fold. If any BJP leader wants to develop his own cult, the party will not support him,” said a BJP leader.