By Shankar Raj*
Bengaluru: Before submitting his resignation to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai late Friday night (April 15,2022), a defiant KS Eshwarappa told supporters in his hometown of Shivamoga that he will be back as minister very soon once the truth regarding the alleged suicide of a contractor comes to light. His supporters responded saying that this was a ‘forced resignation.’
“I don’t want to cause any trouble for my seniors and well-wishers in the party. I am also confident that I will come out clean,” he told reporters.
In a tweet, he said, ” This evening I voluntarily resigned my ministerial post.”
ಇಂದು ಸಂಜೆ ನನ್ನ ಸ್ವಇಚ್ಚೇಯಿಂದ ಸಚಿವ ಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ರಾಜೀನಾಮೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ. #PMOIndia #BJP4India #BJP4Karnatak #CMofKarnataka pic.twitter.com/0FApji5C51
— K S Eshwarappa (@ikseshwarappa) April 15, 2022
In a massive show of strength, a huge convoy of cars accompanied him as he drove to the capital Bengaluru to resign.
Eshwarappa got support from former chief minister BS Yediyurappa who is himself tainted, that his former colleague will be back as a minister soon. But the Congress taunted Bommai asking him why Eshwarappa was resigning if he was innocent.
Sources said that Eshwarappa, 74, who is the senior-most party leader after Yediyurappa, made desperate efforts to continue as minister by canvassing for support within the party and government, but found little support.
He was finally forced to quit after the party top brass reportedly asked Bommai to secure his resignation to avoid embarrassment at the national level and ahead of the state’s two-day state BJP’s executive meeting beginning Saturday at Hospet in Vijayanagar, which BJP national president JP Nadda is expected to attend.
“Till Wednesday, Eshwarappa was confident the party would stand by him. But the high command thought continuing him would do more harm than good,’’ a BJP leader was quoted in the media.
However, the minister denied any pressure from the party. “If I’ve committed any mistake, let God punish me. I’m confident of coming out clean from the allegations in the contractor’s suicide case,” he said.
Contractor Santhosh Patil, who died on Tuesday, had accused Eashwarappa, who handles the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj portfolio, of demanding a 40% cut to clear a bill worth Rs 4 crore for work he had done for the Rural Development department. He named the minister in his last phone messages, saying he was “solely responsible” for his death. In his last WhatsApp messages to friends and political leaders, he had reportedly marked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.
Eshwarappa is the second BJP minister in the two-and-a-half-year-old BJP government to resign. Last year, water resources minister Ramesh Jarkiholi had to resign after finding himself in an alleged sex CD scandal.
Eshwarappa loved courting controversies and often grabbed headlines, mostly for provocative and communal comments. Just this year, Eshwarappa has found himself in the eye of a storm. In February when the hijab row was raging, he controversially claimed the ‘saffron flag’ would one day replace the national flag and would be hoisted at Red Fort. .
A prominent leader of the backward Kuruba community, Eshwarappa is known to follow a hardline Hindutva stand. A protégé of former Yediyurappa and veteran BJP leader DH Shankaramurthy, he served as deputy chief minister of the state in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, he became the leader of the opposition in the legislative council when Congress was in power.
*Shankar Raj is former Editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
