I am opposed to the BSR alliance or merger with BJP in Karnataka. @mukeshirs — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwarajbjp) March 6, 2014

State leaders hopeful

BANGALORE: "I am opposed to the alliance or merger of BSR with BJP in Karnataka. I have conveyed to Shri Raj Nath Singhji in writing that BJP must not permit this," opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj tweeted early Thursday, opposing the return of her erstwhile protege, BSR Congress chief B Sriramulu , to the BJP.The tweet from Sushma, who was considered Sriramulu's godmother, comes at a time when the BJP is preparing to declare Sriramulu as its official candidate from Bellary replacing his sister J Shantha.Only a day earlier, the 'tainted' mining baron had announced that his party would soon merge with BJP. After receiving a green signal from state BJP leaders, Sriramulu had said Wednesday, "I have decided to rejoin BJP because people of the country want to see Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. My return is unconditional and top BJP leaders — Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari — have agreed to my return to the party,"Sushma is firm on not admitting Sriramulu even at the cost of losing a couple of parliamentary seats in Karnataka. Sushma's opposition is likely to force the BJP central leadership not to take Sriramulu back into the party.Swaraj is said to be upset with the party leaders over former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa's return to the party fold. She reportedly expressed displeasure over the conduct of some state BJP leaders, particularly BJP general secretary HN Ananthkumar and leader of the opposition in the Karnataka assembly Jagadish Shettar, over their efforts to get Sriramulu back in the party without her consent.While Kumar had made a statement that the process of admitting Sriramulu was moving in a positive direction, Shettar had maintained that an invitation has been extended to Sriramulu as he personally faced no case of corruption.Sriramulu walked out of the BJP two years ago and floated the BSR Congress. His party won four seats in the assembly polls in May 2013.However, a section of the state BJP leadership is still hopeful of convincing Sushma. Considering the fact that Sriramulu, who belongs to Scheduled Tribe (ST) Nayaka community — wields considerable influence in Bellary, Koppal, Raichur, Gadag and Chitradurga districts, senior BJP leaders including Yeddyurappa see the party making huge gains if he returns to the party.Ever since she contested Bellary Lok Sabha against AICC president Sonia Gandhi in 1999, Sushma has been nursing the constituency. Until a couple of years ago, she stood rock-solid behind the G Karunakara Reddy, G Janardhan Reddy and Sriramulu combine. She was also responsible for all the three getting into cabinet in the Yeddyurappa government.But the illegal mining charges faced by Reddy brothers made Sushma distance herself from the Bellary trio. The arrest of Janardhan Reddy and his close associates Anand Singh, B Nagendra and TH Suresh Babu by the CBI on charges of illegal mining and export of ore from Belikeri port furthered alienated the trio from Sushma.