All eyes on Karnataka's 'big fat wedding' today; show of wealth a ploy to revive Janardhan Reddy's political career, say reports

Bengaluru: The lavish wedding of Karnataka's infamous mining baron and former BJP minister Gali Janardhana Reddy's daughter in Bengaluru, which has been in news for its show of wealth, may also be a comeback ploy for the businessman-turned-politician.

G Janardhan Reddy is believed to have spent close to Rs 550 crore on arrangements for his daughter Brahmani’s wedding, which includes A-listed film actors as a part of the entertainment, renting the Bengaluru Palace Grounds, and having film set artistes recreate Hampi and a rustic village as a part of the wedding decorations.

Twenty one-year-old Brahmani, a BBM graduate, is set to marry 25-year-old Rajiv Reddy, son of Hyderabad-based businessman Vikram Deva Reddy at the Bengaluru Palace Grounds today. 

Amid reports that the lavish spending by the Reddy brothers has caught the attention of the Income Tax department, Reddy's close associate from Bellary, G Sriramulu had said that Bramhani's wedding would be a low-key affair.

“Ours is a middle class family and the wedding will take place as per the middle-class style,” Sriramulu said.

However, the political observers believe that it may well be carefully designed to throw indications that G Janardhana Reddy is back into the state's politics.

In view of the hype over the lavish wedding, the BJP is believed to have issued an informal directive to its members that no one should attend the function.

Between 1999 and 2009, Gali Janardhan Reddy, Karunakar Reddy, Sri Ramulu and Janardhan Reddy were instrumental in bringing the BJP to power in Karnataka with the help of their wealth.

They had developed extremely crodial relations with top BJP leaders including Union minister Sushma Swaraj. While Reddy was an MLC, his brothers were MLAs, and they soon catapulted themselves into a position where they could openly challenge the biggest powers in Karnataka, even the Chief Minister. 

Arun Jaitley had to be flown down in 2009 to resolve a situation when the Reddy brothers threatened to bring down the first BJP government in Karnataka when it wasn’t pandering to them. 

Later, Gali Janardhan Reddy was arrested under illegal mining charges twice over – once in 2011 and then again in 2015. Reddy was granted bail by the Supreme Court in January 2015.

In view of the attention being paid by the media to a jail-bound industrialist-politician, who is convicted of massive corruption, analysts say that this is being done to signal that he’ll get away with it without any further legal trouble. 

And one reason for this extravagant public expense is the Reddy brothers' relations with the xcentral leadership of the BJP, which is in power at the Centre.