G. Janardhana Reddy

At the age of 21, Reddy established a residuary non-banking finance company called, Ennoble India Savings & Investment Company Limited, under the RBI in 1989. Across South India, the company had a total of 125 branches with a turnover of 350 crores. While the company was still functioning, it has stopped collecting deposits from 2003. He surrendered the Certificate of Registration to the RBI[3][4] once all the money was returned with interest to depositors. Reddy was the first person from the non-banking sector in India to obtain an appreciation letter from the RBI.

In 2001, he took over Obulapuram Mining Company (OMCPL) which had an iron-ore mining lease. The lease area contained large quantities of iron-ore lines although there was no market for these at the time.[5] His dissenters assumed that acquiring OMCPL would be his downfall but the steady increases in iron-ore prices due to China’s construction boom proved the opposite.[2]

Allegedly, his political clout helped him to get the iron-ore mining license in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh in 2004. He established the Bramhani Industries, a steel manufacturing unit, in the Kadapa district and gave employment to 10,000+ people.[6][7][8]

Reddy came into political spotlight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections when the Reddy brothers were working as part of Sushma Swaraj's campaign. At the time, Swaraj had been competing as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Bellary against Sonia Gandhi, who belonged to the Indian National Congress, to become the MP. Although Swaraj was unsuccessful, she remained a patron of the Reddy’s and was known to visit Bellary frequently. After the Reddy brothers were charged[1] during the mining scandal, Swaraj distanced herself from them. The allegations against Reddy brought a bad reputation for the BJP in Karnataka and exposed opportunistic politics in the state.[9]

In 2006, due to the BJP - Janta Dal (Secular) (JDS) coalition government and the efforts of Reddy, B. Sriramulu was made a Cabinet Minister. In 2006, Reddy was made a Member of the Legislative Council to recognize his active role in increasing the BJP presence in Bellary.[10] However, in later years, Reddy fought with Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy, and made allegations, and provided evidence of corruption, resulting in his suspension.

However, H. D. Kumaraswamy did not hand over the government to B. S. Yeddyurappa at the required time. The State President of the party at the time, D. V. Sadananda Gowda and B. S. Yeddyurappa revoked Reddy’s suspension who then campaigned alongside Yeddyurappa for BJP during the Assembly Elections of 2008. Aided by Reddy’s efforts, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 110 seats and with the support of 5 independent MLA’s, BJP formed a government in South India for the first time on its own.

Reddy was then inducted as the Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure and the Minister in-charge of the Bellary district,[11] setting many developmental milestones for the state and for Bellary during this period.[12][13] In spite of allegations made against Reddy and his period of judicial custody, Reddy remains a popular politician which was witnessed by the state on 29 January 2017[14][15] when Reddy received a standing ovation from a large crowd at the HemaVema function in the palace ground in Bangalore. Reddy did not contest in the Karnataka assembly polls in 2018; however, his brothers, Sriramulu and four other candidates close to Reddy received a BJP ticket.

In July 2011, the Lokayukta of Karnataka, Santosh Hegde, published a report on the illegal mining activities in the Bellary region. Reddy was accused of completely rigging iron ore mining in this area and defrauding the government. Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation officials had clues to tax evasion and found that Reddy had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a one-dollar company in Singapore to camouflage the company's income suppression. They raided the place along with other investigative agencies and formed a report which served as the basis of the report on illegal mining. Reddy is said to have designed a "Zero-Risk system" of iron ore mining, where he seamlessly provided protection to unauthorized and unaccounted mining, with active connivance from government officials at all levels. The rule of the iron ore mafia under his command was called the "Republic of Bellary" in which no external control or governance mechanism had any effect.[16][17]

The CBI is investigating the alleged bribing of the Hyderabad Special Court judge T. Pattabhirama Rao by Reddy's family members (G.Somashekar Reddy & H.Suresh Babu) in order to secure his bail in the Obulapuram Mining Company case. Further investigations by CBI implicated others, including a retired judge T.V. Chalapathi Rao, in the "Cash for Bail" scandal.[18] The IT department issued notices and Reddy provided an explanation to the department but these explanations were rejected by the CIT Appeals. He preferred to appeal in all the matters before the Hon'ble ITAT and the Hon'ble Tribunal has allowed all appeals in his favour by dismissing the stand taken by the IT department.[19][20]

Reddy was criticised over the lavish wedding of his daughter, Brahmani, which was held in Palace Grounds, Bangalore. He allegedly spent 500 crores ($71 million) for his daughter's wedding. Brahmani married a 23-year-old MBA graduate who hails from a family operating gold mines in South Africa, Tanzania and a granite marble businesses in Turkey.[21][22][23][24]