Sex for job row: Karnataka ex-minister Ramesh Jarkiholi says will not resign as MLA

Ramesh Jarkiholi, BJP MLA who had resigned as minister from the Karnataka cabinet in March after being accused in the infamous ‘sex for job CD row’, did a U-turn on Sunday about resigning as a legislator. After recently hinting at resigning from the MLA post too, he said resigning from the post was a closed chapter.

“After consultation with religious leaders, elders and well-wishers, I decided not to submit my resignation,” he said on Sunday. Sources said that it was a plan to exert pressure on CM Yediyurappa to induct his brother, BJP MLA Balachandra Jarkiholi who represents the Arabhavi constituency, into the cabinet. In fact, Balachandra Jarkiholi had announced that he along with his elder brother Ramesh would hold a joint press conference.
 

Ramesh, who was with the Congress until 2019, played a major role in the installation of the present BJP government in the state by mustering the support of the Congress MLAs and ministers. As a result, he was awarded the powerful Water Resources ministry. However, soon after he started hinting at a change of guard in the Karnataka government, the sex scandal came out and he had to resign from his post as cabinet minister. His younger brother Sathish Jarkiholi represents the Yamakanamaradi constituency in Belagavi and is a powerful leader in the Congress party.
 

Ramesh is yet to be arrested in the sex for job case registered by Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park police. The influential leader has been booked under sections 354A (Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 417 (Punishment for cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult), and 376 C (Sexual intercourse by person in authority) of the Indian Penal Code. The survivor in the case had alleged that the minister had multiple sexual interactions with her on the pretext of giving her a government job.