WEB DESK
Karnataka Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from Cabinet on Wednesday, a day after allegations of him seeking sexual favours from a woman in return for a government job emerged.
A CD allegedly containing recordings of his intimate moments with the woman was submitted to Bengaluru police by an activist on Wednesday.
Mr Jarkiholi has sent his resignation letter to the Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and stated that he was resigning from the post to save the party from embarrassment and that he should be reinstated once proven innocent. He has described the allegations as far from true.
There had been protests by opposition parties since Tuesday demanding his resignation.
Earlier in the day his brother and BJP leader Bakakrishna Jarkiholi met the Chief Minister and sough a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Mr. Jarkiholi led the team of 17 MLAs from the Opposition parties who switched to the BJP from the Congress, 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 Mr. Jarkiholi’s instant political growth.