Bengaluru: Nudged by the BJP high command, Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister KS Eshwarappa Thursday announced his resignation following the controversy over the alleged suicide of contractor Santosh Patil.
He announced his decision to resign from the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet at the BJP office in Shivamogga, his hometown. He said he did not want to "put the party leaders in a fix" and hence took the decision to resign. Eshwarappa will submit his resignation to Bommai Friday.
Till early Thursday morning, Eshwarappa had taken a defiant stand and had maintained the there was no question of resigning. But with the Congress and the JD(S) intensifying their agitation against him, the minister was asked by the party high command to quietly go and not give the opposition a stick to beat the party with, especially ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
His resignation will give credence to the charges that bribery is a norm in Karnataka and that many ministers may have their fingers in the pie.
Bommai too had ruled out any action against Eshwarappa, against whom police had booked a case for abetting Patil's suicide.
Eshwarappa landed in controversy after he was named in the suicide of a civil contractor Santosh Patil. The contractor had said in a message that the minister and his henchmen were demanding 40% commission for clearing his bills on a Rs 4 crore work he had completed.
Earlier in the day, there was high drama in Bengaluru as Congress leaders DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, and others were detained as police stopped them from marching toward Bommai's residence to demand Eshwarappa's resignation.
