Accused of sexual exploitation, BJP minister in K’taka resigns
Ramesh Jarkiholi, who served as Karnataka’s water resources minister in the BS Yediyurappa-led government, on Wednesday resigned from the cabinet a day after allegations of sexual exploitation surfaced against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Gokak in Belagavi district.
In his resignation letter, which was shared by the chief minister’s office, Jarkiholi stated that the allegations against him are “far from the truth”.
“There should be an investigation into this. Even though I am innocent, I am taking moral responsibility and resigning from the cabinet,” Jarkiholi said in the letter.
Jarkiholi’s resignation comes a day before the commencement of the budget session in Karnataka. His resignation is expected to help Yediyurappa avoid the issue in the legislature, the incident has given ammunition to the opposition to attack Jarkiholi who was on of the main players in the defection drama that led
to the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy-led Jd(s)-congress coalition government in 2019.
“It is disgusting to watch. Such people (Ramesh) are ministers in Yediyurappa’s council of ministers. His brother (Balachandra) has threatened Yediyurappa that he will release a CD against the chief minister if they ask for his brother’s (Ramesh) resignation. Should such people remain in power,” Siddaramaiah, the Congress’ leader of the opposition said, while addressing a gathering as part of the party’s Padayatra near Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Jarkiholi was dropped from the Kumaraswamy government over non-performance in 2018.
Dinesh Kalahalli, a social activist, filed a police complaint on Tuesday. An unverified video of a person resembling the minister with an unnamed woman has gone viral with TV news channels in Karnataka playing the incident on loop.
HT could not independently verify the contents of the video.
“Whatever the complaint is there (against Jarkiholi), based on the complaint we are doing the inquiry as per the law,” Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s home, law and parliamentary minister said on Wednesday.
Kalahalli, in his complaint, alleged that Jarkiholi sexually exploited the woman in the guise of helping her land a government job at Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL). Jarkiholi could not be reached for comment.
“This incident appears to be part of the invisible and ugly power struggle within the various powerful groups of the BJP where every group tries to capitalise on the weakness of the other,” said a Bengaluru-based political analyst, requesting not to be named.