Why Bellary's Reddy miners top BJP's charts despite the 'taint' they carry

The Reddy brothers were so integral to BJP's politics in Karnataka and at the Centre that L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj weighed-in with them rather than the CM of the day, B S Yeddyurappa

Seldom has a regional clan mattered so much to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the Reddy brothers of Bellary, a district in North Karnataka that became nationally infamous for the several thousand crore illegal mining scam that was unearthed between 2007 and 2013 when the BJP ruled the state. After distancing itself from the Reddys for a brief while, the BJP has brought them back in business in the current Karnataka polls, even if their rehabilitation has meant compromising with its so-called commitment to upholding probity.

The three Reddy brothers —- Galli Karunakara, Janardhana and Somashekhara -— were so integral