Anti-graft activist Ravi Krishna Reddy warned against contesting Karnataka polls

BENGALURU: Anti-graft activist Ravi Krishna Reddy has received threat calls warning him against contesting the upcoming assembly elections.
Reddy, who was the Lok Satta Party candidate from BTM Layout seat in 2013, is mulling standing as an independent candidate from Jayanagar this time.
“Yesterday a person called me, introduced himself as Shashank and asked me not to contest the elections.He threatened me of dire consequences if I ignored his warning,” said Reddy.
While Reddy’s supporters have registered a complaint at Jayanagar police station. Reddy has posted on Facebook a video of him narrating how he received the threatening call and recorded it.
The actvist feels that supporters of any of the national parties could be behind the mischief as they fear he would eat into their votes.
The Jayanagar constituency has been drawing attention this time as home minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy has been tipped to be the Congress candidate against incumbent BJP MLA B N Vijayakumar.
Reddy’s likely entry into the fray has added to the drama as he is expected to draw a sizeable chunk of votes, especially of the educated urban lot. Parties like Aam Admi Party (AAP) and Swaraj India Party are backing Reddy, who had bagged 6,600 votes against Ramalinga Reddy in BTM Layout last time.
Vijayakumar, however, sought to dismiss the Reddy factor. “People very well know the hypocrisy of these so called activist-politicians. No one takes Reddy seriously leave alone threatening him,” said Vijayakumar.
He pointed out that Reddy’s posters have been plastered all over the constituency masking even Bescom signs in violation of norms. “This only shows he is not practising what he preaches,” said Vijayakumar.