The fall from grace of the once mighty Reddy brothers may have been complete but the Assembly poll outcome shows that the clout of other mining lords remains undiminished in the "Republic of Bellary."
The ruling BJP was electorally erased in all but one of the eight constituencies in Bellary district where the Reddy troika--Janardhana, Karunakara and Somashekara- built a mining empire that critics say also nourished their party.
Karunakara Reddy lost the election from Harapanahalli in the neighbouring Davangere district to Congress candidate M P Ravindra. Janardhana Reddy is cooling his heels in jail in Hyderabad in an illegal mining case, while Somashekara opted out of the contest this time.
But the Bellary story has not changed with miners lording over the district again.
BJP's Anand Singh, a miner who vacillated till the eleventh hour on whether to remain in his party, has retained Vijayanagara constituency in Hospet, trouncing Congress' Abdul Wahab, also a mining man, in an outcome that has come as a saving grace for his party. Singh's mining firm's lease was cancelled by the Supreme Court for illegal mining.
Congress' Anil Lad, a Rajya Sabha member, has managed to win from Bellary city by over 18,000 votes, weathering out discontent among some vocal local partymen who were in the forefront against illegal exploitation of iron ore.
