BANGALORE: Former minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday severed his 14-year association with the ruling BJP and entered into the fray for the Bellary byelection as an independent candidate rejecting BJP’s offer to field him on the lotus symbol.With this, the ruling BJP is heading for another crisis as most of the BJP MLAs, MPs and other elected representatives from Bellary district have openly extended support to Sriramulu. They even urged the party to support Sriramulu, which the party dismissed squarely.Sriramulu’s decision has also forced the state BJP to scout for an alternative candidate to match the former in the electoral battle. The names of Y Nettakallappa, former Bellary zilla panchayat vice president, S Veereshappa, former ZP member, Hagari Gadilingappa, a businessman and K V Nagendra, national general secretary of BJP ST morcha are doing the rounds. As expected, Sriramulu on Wednesday announced his decision to leave the BJP and filed nominations for the November 30 bypoll as an independent candidate. Soon after filing his papers, Sriramulu dashed off a three-page letter to BJP national president Nitin Gadkari in which he blamed BJP state leaders for his move.“My good friend Janardhana Reddy and I toiled to build the party in Bellary. But state leaders tried to tarnish our image taking advantage of our crisis. This has hurt me,” wrote Sriramulu. He clarified that MLAs and MPs from Bellary will stay in the party.
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