NEW DELHI: Karnataka planning and statistics minister B Nagendra resigned from the state cupboard on Friday amid mounting stress over the alleged Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Improvement Company rip-off.He additionally broke down throughout a press convention whereas saying his resolution.Nagendra stepped down inside 25 days of assuming workplace after being re-inducted into the cupboard on August 3. He stated he had tendered his resignation to chief minister D Ok Shivakumar.“Immediately I’m voluntarily tendering my resignation because the minister,” an emotional Nagendra advised reporters.He stated he had taken the choice with a heavy coronary heart to make sure that the celebration management was not embarrassed.Nagendra alleged that he was being focused as a part of a conspiracy and stated the BJP couldn’t intimidate him by central investigating companies.“They (BJP) cannot scare me with ED, CBI,” Nagendra stated.He additionally alleged that “Manuwadis”, in an obvious reference to the BJP, had been focusing on him as a result of they didn’t desire a tribal individual within the nation to develop.“Manuwadis focused me as they did not desire a tribal individual within the nation to develop,” he alleged.Nagendra additionally challenged the BJP to defeat him in Ballari within the “courtroom of public opinion”. He stated he was ready to resign as an MLA and face elections if the BJP was able to take him on.The resignation marks the second time Nagendra has stepped down from the cupboard over the controversy. He had earlier resigned as tribal welfare minister in June 2024 when the problem first surfaced.
Stress after cupboard re-induction
Nagendra was re-inducted into the Karnataka cupboard on August 3 and given the planning and statistics portfolio. His return triggered contemporary calls for from the BJP and JD(S) for his elimination over the alleged diversion of funds from the state-run company.Earlier on Friday, Nagendra had stated he would meet chief minister D Ok Shivakumar and talk about the matter intimately.“If a scenario arises the place my actions trigger embarrassment to the celebration, then I’ll…” he had stated, alleging that the developments had been a part of a “conspiracy”.The opposition BJP and JD(S) had been protesting his re-induction into the cupboard and alleging his involvement within the alleged Rs 89 crore rip-off.The 2 events had additionally staged repeated protests inside and outdoors the Karnataka legislature through the latest monsoon session, which was curtailed by three days and adjourned sine die on August 24 amid continued disruptions.The BJP and JD(S) had deliberate a foot march from Raichur to Ballari from September 1 to 10, demanding Nagendra’s resignation.
What’s the Valmiki Company case?
The controversy dates again to Might 2024, when P Chandrasekharan, then an accounts superintendent with the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Improvement Company, died by suicide and left behind a six-page word alleging irregularities and unauthorised transfers of company funds.
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Subsequent investigations discovered that Rs 89.63 crore had been transferred from an organization account to a Union Financial institution of India account and later moved to a number of different accounts, triggering a serious political controversy.Nagendra, who was tribal welfare minister when the problem surfaced, resigned from the cupboard in June 2024.He had beforehand rejected studies that he would resign and maintained that the allegations in opposition to him had been “politically motivated”. Simply two days in the past, he had dismissed media studies claiming that he had supplied to step down.His resignation on Friday got here amid renewed political stress on the Congress authorities over the alleged Valmiki Company rip-off.
