Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) minister KS Eshwarappa needed a phone call from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership in Delhi to resign.
BJP sources told News18 that the top leaders were extremely upset with the controversy surrounding Eshwarappa.
The party high command was already looking red after his recent statement which claimed that “saffron flag“May one day replace the national flag at Red Fort. BJP national president JP Nadda had even called up the leader and slammed him for his “irresponsible remarks”.
“The decision to ask him to step down was taken within minutes. The leader was given a message to step down with immediate effect. The Prime Minister called a senior BJP functionary to instruct him to resign,” a senior BJP leader from the state told News18.
The source further added that the allegation made by the contractor who attributed his death to Eshwarappa and his associates by suicide, made it to the front pages of newspapers in the national capital and was the last straw. The BJP leader said that even the state BJP leadership was pulled up for controlling the minister and not being able to raise the issue at the local level.
“This was the last straw. He had no choice,” said another BJP source.
Eshwarappa on Thursday submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai amid a controversy over the alleged suicide of contractor Santosh Patil. In March, the deceased had written to PM Modi seeking his intervention and alleged that the then minister Eshwarappa had sought a commission to clear the government contract bills worth Rs 4 crore given to him by the RPDR department .
The former minister said he had nothing to do with the allegations made by the contractor or Patil in his death note. But he was asked to resign from the party or face strict action, sources told News18.
Patil, who was also a BJP worker, in his death note allegedly accused Eshwarappa and his associates of demanding 40 per cent commission for clearing the bills and held them responsible for their extreme step.
An FIR was registered against Eshwarappa on Wednesday, accusing him of abetment to suicide.
Karnataka moving towards one election year BJP leaders say that the controversy has hurt the image of the party at the state and national level as well.
“Prime Minister Modi has promised the people of the country, ‘Na khaunga, na khane dounga’ (neither I will indulge in corruption, nor will I allow anyone else to indulge in it), and he will abolish ‘commission’. ‘. And here comes a minister who has been nominated to take 40 per cent commission. This is absolutely not acceptable. Strictest action was to be expected and that is what happened,” said a Karnataka BJP functionary on condition of anonymity. But said.
BJP insiders say Eshwarappa is known as a motivator and the party was unhappy with this for a long time. controversies Around him- mostly because of his inflammatory and divisive statements.
Asked whether the minister had lodged his protest before resigning from his post, a BJP official, seeking details, revealed that Eshwarappa was not even given a chance to explain as the party wanted the issue to be addressed at the earliest. be closed.
“He told CM Bommai and central leaders (via SMS) that he had no role in the corruption allegations but would not hear a word. They wanted him to step down and send a message that the party has zero tolerance for such acts or comments,” the official said.
The 74-year-old BJP veteran Eshwarappa is a dependent of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, and is also from his mentor’s constituency Shivamogga. However, in 2021, the BJP leader publicly criticized Yeddyurappa for running an “autocratic government” and accused the CM’s family of interfering in the government administration.
This is not the first time that Eshwarappa has been named in a corruption case. In 2012, when he was the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, currency counting machines were found with him in a raid by the Lokayukta.
A prominent leader of the backward Kuruba community, he is also known to grab headlines with his pro-Hindutva statements and is often called upon by senior BJP leaders to withdraw after being ticked off.
“He is not Eshwarappa, he is U-turn Appa,” another angry Karnataka BJP minister told News18.
Eshwarappa sparked another controversy when he declared that the alleged killing of Bajrang Dal leader Harsha in Shivamogga in February this year was the handiwork of “Muslim goons”. All this happened even before the police investigation started.
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