From farmhouse, mining baron G Janardhan Reddy runs aide's campaign

MOLKALMURU: The duplex sitting on a 16-acre plot, surrounded by coconut palms and neem saplings, off the Ballari-Challakere Road in Molakalmuru taluk of Chitradurga district, looks like any other farmhouse. But fluttering BJP flags, two life-size cutouts of party leaders Amit Shah and B Sreeramulu, and a fleet of SUVs are a giveaway that the farmhouse is where mining baron G Janardhana Reddy has pitched camp.


Not allowed to enter his home turf Ballari by the Supreme Court, and with the BJP leadership's public proclamation that he is to keep off party campaigning, Janardhana is working out of the farmhouse, masterminding the election campaign of associate Sreeramulu, who is the BJP candidate from Molakalmuru constituency.

The farmhouse is owned by NP Venkatesh, 57, who insists that he be addressed as 'Dr Venkatesh' as he has obtained a doctorate from his Valmiki community's dharma peetha.

Venkatesh takes pride in dropping names of top politicians, including Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun M Kharge, M

Veerappa Moily

, late N Dharam Singh and late S Bangarappa, who have stayed in his farmhouse en route Bengaluru to Ballari.

The five-bedroom farmhouse has been let out to Reddy. A 10-member crew is busy through the day, preparing tea, avalakki, rice and sambar for the endless stream of visitors who come to meet Reddy.

Once cleared by a strategic surveillance unit stationed outside the farmhouse, the visitors help themselves to food as they wait for Reddy.

Venkatesh, who is into the paddy trade, and his wife P Sharadamma, a doctor at Molakalmuru's government hospital, said that prior to the announcement of polls, Reddy's people had approached him with an offer to buy the house, but he had declined. "I was hesitant to even let it out, but my wife convinced me, saying all political parties come to our house and Reddy is in distress," he added.

He was also asked to quote his price for letting out the house. "I told Reddy to give me Rs 101 after the election, which I will donate to a temple in Kolhapur. My wife has moved to Bengaluru to stay with our son, who is doing his MBA, and I have taken up a room nearby. There are two well-furnished bedrooms on the first floor," Venkatesh said.

Besides the bedrooms, the first floor has a dining room, a sprawling terrace with a treadmill and a view of the highway.

Venkatesh claims a lot of sweat and toil has gone into the farmhouse, which he constructed after his wife constantly taunted him. "We used to live in a shed, and over dinner every night, my wife would always remind me that we did not have a house. I told her I would construct a palace for her. That's how Sharadamma farmhouse came up. It cost Rs 68 lakh six years ago,'' he says.

Asked about the source of money, Venkatesh becomes emotional and says the house was built from their hard earned money.