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Eshwarappa resigns amid show of strength
Belagavi-based contractor Santosh Patil (37), also a BJP worker, was found dead at a hotel in Udupi on Tuesday, barely two weeks after accusing Eshwrappa of harassing him
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader KS Eshwarappa on Friday evening submitted his resignation from the state cabinet to Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai in Bengaluru, three days after protests erupted over the death of a contractor who had levelled charges of corruption against him.
Eshwarappa was the state’s Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) minister.
He met Bommai at the CM’s residence on Friday evening and submitted a one-line resignation: “On my volition, I am resigning from my minister’s post”.
“All these allegations, I want to come out free from them. I spoke to Basavaraj Bommai and central leaders about it. I have already given my resignation as I didn’t want this issue to become an embarrassment to the government, people who helped me grow, central leaders and the workers of the party,” Eshwarappa said after meeting Bommai.
The former minister had left for Bengaluru from Shivamogga in a convoy of at least 10 cars and stopped along major towns and villages along the highway where he was stopped and felicitated by his supporters. He also visited the Sri Siddaganga Matha, one of the holiest monasteries of the dominant Lingayat community in Tumakuru as well as a Ganesha temple in a convention hall in Shivamogga.
He met Bommai along with Jarkiholi and home minister Araga Jnanendra.
The resignation comes even as the Congress continues to mount pressure on the BJP-led government to arrest Eshwarappa under abetment and anti-corruption laws for harassing the contractor.
Supporters of Eshwarappa raised slogans near the chief minister’s residence on Friday is support against the Congress leaders demanding his arrest.
Eshwarappa had announced on Thursday that he will submit his resignation but was confident of coming out clean from the investigation into the alleged suicide of Patil.
Belagavi-based contractor Santosh Patil (37), also a BJP worker, was found dead at a hotel in Udupi on Tuesday, barely two weeks after accusing Eshwrappa of harassing him for 40% commission to release payment of ₹4 crore for work done.
A day before his body was found, a purported suicide note on a WhatsApp message was sent by Patil to his associates and a section of the media, blaming Eshwarappa for the extreme step.
Eshwarappa has termed the allegations a “conspiracy” against him.
Eshwarappa, while speaking to reporters on Friday, also alleged that he was being targeted along the lines of the “conspiracy” against BJP legislator Ramesh Jarkiholi.
Jarkiholi had resigned from ministerial post in March 2021 over accusations of seeking sexual favours from a woman for giving her a job.
“I will hold a press conference on Monday. The same set of conspirators are behind (resignation) of Eshwarappa and Ramesh Jarkiholi. I will take permission from the high command and talk,” Eshwarappa said.
Several ministers in the state’s cabinet who had resigned over the years due to allegations of corruption, sexual offences and harassment rarely faced jail time with some of them securing party tickets and serving as legislators and ministers (See box).
In 2010, H.Halappa, then minister for food and civil supplies in the first BJP government under BS Yediyurappa was forced to step down after he was accused of sexual assault. He was given a clean chit in August 2017 and is currently a BJP legislator who is also an aspirant for a ministerial berth.
Former chief minister Yediyurappa was forced to step down in 2011 after he was indicted in the illegal iron-ore mining scam. He later left the party and successfully contested the 2013 assembly elections through a party he floated -- Karnataka Janata Party. Later, he was brought back into the BJP and made the state unit chief. After the Congress-JD(S) government collapsed in the state, Yeddiyurappa went on to become CM again and served two terms.
In 2016, excise minister in the Congress-led government, HY Meti, stepped down over a sex scandal. He was given a clean chit in 2017.
In 2012, three BJP ministers -- Laxman Savadi, Krishna Palemar and CC Patil -- were caught watching pornographic content on the floor of the assembly and submitted their resignations. Savadi went on to serve as deputy chief minister and Patil is the public works department in the current Bommai regime.
In 2016, minister in-charge for Bengaluru district, KJ George, resigned after a court in Kodagu district directed the police to file an FIR against him abetment to suicide case. Deputy superintendent of police M K Ganapathy had named George and two senior police officers on a local TV channel hours before he died by suicide. George was given a clean chit in September and he inducted into the cabinet.
