Bengaluru, Aug 28: Within 100 days of forming the government, the first wicket of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar falls in the form of B Nagendra, against whom the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a charge sheet regarding ₹187 crore Valmiki ST Development Corporation scam.
Interestingly, Nagendra was the first minister to resign from the earlier government headed by Siddaramaiah in the same scam, which took place in 2024 during the general elections to Parliament.
Nagendra resigns from cabinet
Nagendra, who was holding the Planning and Statistics portfolio in the present government, had gone to Delhi on Thursday with the documents pertaining to the scam to explain his `innocence' to the high command. Soon after he returned, he went straight to Vidhana Soudha, held a meeting with the Chief Minister, before announcing his resignation from the cabinet.
While blaming the BJP for targeting him since he was a Dalit, Nagendra broke down before announcing his resignation. ``I don't want my Chief Minister and Congress party to be embarrassed because of me. I am resigning on my own,'' Nagendra said.
Nagendra denies allegations
Throughout the press conference, Nagendra claimed that he was innocent and charged that the `Manuvadi' BJP targeted him since he was a Dalit. ``Though the State government had formed SIT to probe the allegations and also initiated CID probe, the BJP was not satisfied. Unlike CBI, which targets the opposition parties, both SIT and CID did a fair investigation and gave a clean chit to me. Whatever money was transferred from Valmiki ST Development Corporation has come back. Show me one document to prove that I had used one rupee from the Corporation? Even ED included my name in the second charge sheet as an afterthought,'' Nagendra lamented.
Details of the scam
The scam surfaced in 2024 after a manager of Valmiki ST Development Corporation in Shimoga committed suicide, after he found out that ₹187 crore was missing and had been illegally transferred to a private bank in Hyderabad. When the investigation began, around ₹104 crore money automatically reverted back to the Board corpus. Nagendra, who was the minister for SC/ST Development, resigned as the Board came under him.
While the State government formed an SIT and ordered CID investigation into the money disappearance, the Directorate of Enforcement raided all those suspected to be involved in the scam, including Nagendra. Nagendra was in judicial custody for over 96 days, before he was granted conditional bail, restricting him from travelling outside Karnataka.
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Opposition continues protest
BJP protested when Nagendra was included in the D K Shivakumar cabinet that was expanded just 24 days ago. The monsoon session was washed out since the opposition BJP and JD(S) staged protests and refused to be part of the session till Nagendra resigned. The opposition also planned a Padayatra from Koppal to Ballari, starting from Sept 1.
The opposition has not yet called off the Padayatra, though Nagendra resigned. BJP State President B Y Vijayendra said that the protest will not end till complete money is recovered by the Valmiki ST Development Board and utilised for welfare of the ST community. ``We are going ahead with the Padayatra,'' he added.
