Mining baron Janardhana Reddy rejoins BJP ahead of polls, BS Yediyurappa says, ‘very good decision’

Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday rejoined the BJP ahead of the .

The Gangavati MLA, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had formed the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha' (KRPP) ahead of the state assembly polls last year, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP.

Reddy today merged his KRPP with the BJP as he, along with wife Aruna Lakshmi and some family members, joined the party in the presence of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister , state President B Y Vijayendra, and others.

Former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa said, “Janardhana Reddy and others have rejoined the BJP. It is a very good decision that he has taken, it will strengthen our party."

Reddy had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. However, in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls he had extended support to the Congress candidate.

Before the assembly polls last year, Reddy had been largely politically inactive for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the CBI for an alleged role in a mining scam.

During this period, he had a brief stint ahead of the 2018 assembly polls when he campaigned for his close friend and former Minister B Sriramulu in the Molakalmuru Assembly segment.

In the run-up to the 2018 assembly polls, the then BJP national president Amit Shah, in response to a reporter's question, had distanced the party from him and stressed that “the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhana Reddy."

Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015. Several conditions were imposed by the apex court in its order which included prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. Because of these restrictions, he had to