Former Minister and BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi accused Congress state president DK Shivakumar of conspiring against him leading to his resignation from the post of minister two years earlier. Addressing a press conference in Belagavi on Monday, January 30, Jarkiholi demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and said he was in possession of audio and video tapes implicating Shivakumar in the conspiracy. Jarkiholi resigned as Karnataka minister about two years ago following the infamous ‘sex for job CD row’.
Jarkiholi, who held the Water Resources portfolio, resigned in 2021 after a video of Jarkiholi with a woman surfaced. The woman, who was at the centre of the controversy, alleged that the minister exploited her after promising her a government job, a charge denied by Jarkiholi.
On Monday, Jarkiholi, who is the MLA from Gokak constituency in Belagavi, said the woman and her accomplices including two people from Mandya should be arrested. "I demand that the state government should hand over the case to the CBI. The girl should be arrested along with her accomplices, including two people from Mandya, whose names I will disclose before the CBI," Jarkiholi said.
The former minister alleged that Congress leader Shivakumar tried to discredit him and ruin his life. "DK Shivakumar is unfit to be a politician. No one should spoil someone's personal life. I never made personal attacks," the BJP leader charged. The former minister claimed he had evidence to prove that Shivakumar was behind it.
According to him, there are several sleaze videos of many politicians, including Congress leaders and top bureaucrats of the state, which were being used for blackmailing. "This is a very serious matter because many people have been honey-trapped and are being blackmailed, including Congress leaders and top officers. I urge the state government to hand over the case to the CBI," Jarkiholi said.
Talking about his relationship with Shivakumar, Jarkiholi said that he and Shivakumar were good friends but that his relationship with the Congress was ruined by a rural MLA (Congress leader Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who represents the Belagavi rural constituency). “Usha Shivakumar (wife of DK Shivakumar) came to me and requested me not to leave the party, but I told her that her husband was not right and that I would leave the party,” he said.
Jarkiholi also said he would hand the audio/video files and documentary evidence of illegal money transactions to the CBI if the state government handed over the case to the central agency. Shivakumar, who is participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir, was not available for comment. The Congress has also not reacted to the BJP leader's allegations. Channaraj Hattiholi, brother of Lakshmi Hebbalkar, questioned Jarkiholi's timing in making these allegations, asking why Jarkiholi didn't come forward and clear his name when the allegations were made more than a year ago. Hattiholi said, “Why did he wait a year to assert his innocence and claim he was the victim of a conspiracy?”
Jarkiholi’s statement comes two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held closed-door meetings with BJP leaders from Belagavi on the upcoming Assembly elections. Congress had filed a complaint against Jarkiholi after a video of him claiming that anyone who would vote for BJP would receive Rs 6,000. Jarkiholi also made remarks against Congress leader Lakshmi Hebbalkar, alleging that she had been distributing gifts to voters in her constituency. At another event in Gokak, Jarkiholi said that BJP had the ‘power to adjust’ a few seats if they fell short. Congress is holding a protest on Monday evening condemning Jarkiholi's remarks on Shivakumar at Congress Bhavan in Bengaluru.