NEW DELHI, Mar 3: The Karnataka minister for major and medium irrigation Ramesh Jarkiholi submitted his resignation from the BS Yediyurappa cabinet following an allegation of sex scandal.
His resignation comes in the wake of purported video clips that showed Jarkiholi getting intimate with a young unidentified woman, and audio conversations between the two, being played on television channels.
A social activist, Dinesh Kalahalli, who claimed he was authorised by the woman’s family, later filed a complaint with the Cubbon Park police in Bengaluru alleging that the woman in the video clips was enticed by the minister with the offer of a government job.
Jarkiholi who initially were opposed to submitting resignation claiming the allegation to be baseless, later under pressure from the party was forced to send his resignation to Yediyurappa with the condition that he should be reinstated in the cabinet once his “innocence” was proved.
Jarkiholi send his resignation through his brother and BJP leader Balakrishna Jarkiholi with the demand that a CBI inquiry should be held into the allegation. There had been protests by opposition parties since Tuesday demanding his resignation.
Formerly in the Congress, Jarkiholi had led a team of 17 MLAs from the Congress and the JD(S) who switched to the BJP which eventually led to the fall of the Congress–JD(S) coalition government and formation of the BJP government.
Besides the party he quit, a large number of BJP old timers too were not comfortable with Jarkiholi’s instant political growth.
Police are yet to register a formal case and are verifying the legitimacy of the complaint brought by the social activist, deputy commissioner of police M N Anucheth said following the complaint.
The CD featuring Ramesh Jarkiholi has come ahead of the announcement of bypolls to the Belagavi Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant last year following the death from Covid-19 of Suresh Angadi, the then Minister of State for Railways in the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
Meanwhile, Jarkiholi’s supporters organized a protest in Gokak in support of him on Wednesday. They sat at the Basaveshwara circle, and shouted slogans in favour of their leader and urged the government not to accept his resignation.
(Manas Dasgupta)