5 min learnBengaluruUp to date: Aug 29, 2026 05:18 AM IST
Barely 25 days after he was inducted into the cupboard of recent Karnataka Chief Minister D Ok Shivakumar, Planning and Statistics Minister B Nagendra introduced his resignation Friday within the wake of a sustained marketing campaign for his exit by the BJP over a CBI chargesheet filed towards him in an alleged corruption case.
Asserting his resignation throughout a press meet held on the Vidhana Soudha, a teary-eyed Nagendra accused the BJP of getting orchestrated his exit due to the social gathering’s ‘anti-tribal mindset’.
“I can be submitting my resignation to the chief minister. The BJP has painted me responsible as a result of I belong to a backward tribal neighborhood… I’d not wish to trigger embarrassment to my social gathering and leaders and have determined to submit my resignation by myself,” Nagendra mentioned.
“Through the session, we requested the BJP to debate the allegations towards me. However they didn’t wish to, and there’s no proof. It’s an anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP. I’m being attacked simply because I’m Dalit. The Manuvadis is not going to permit individuals like me to develop in politics,” he added.
The exit of the Ballari Rural MLA from the cupboard additionally got here after Governor Thawarchand Gehlot accorded sanction for the prosecution of the minister by the CBI in reference to the case of alleged misappropriation of funds of the state Scheduled Tribes Growth Company when Nagendra was the ST welfare minister in 2023-24.
“I’m resigning out of respect for the constitutional workplace of the Governor, which has granted sanction for my prosecution. The sanction has been granted selectively even because the sanction for prosecution of leaders of the opposition has not been granted for over three years in some instances,” the Congress MLA mentioned.
Nagendra additionally steered that he’s contemplating resigning because the Ballari Rural MLA. “I may even quickly resign because the MLA, and I problem all of the individuals who sought my exit to return to the court docket of the individuals and defeat me in an election.”
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The sanction accorded for the prosecution of the Congress MLA by the Governor, and a BJP proposal to embark on a 170 km padayatra from September 1 in Raichur and Ballari districts – the place the Congress enjoys good help – to demand Nagendra’s resignation is being seen in political circles as forcing the Congress’s hand in searching for his exit from the cupboard.
Nagendra had beforehand resigned because the ST welfare minister from the cupboard of former Congress CM Siddaramaiah in 2024 – after allegations have been levelled concerning the diversion of Rs 94.73 crore of funds from the checking account of an ST Growth Company to a number of non-public accounts.
Though a probe by a Karnataka Police SIT didn’t discover hyperlinks between Nagendra and the fund diversion rip-off, the CBI lately filed a corruption cost sheet towards the Congress chief for being an alleged beneficiary of contracts value Rs 13.95 crore given via the ST Growth Company throughout his tenure as ST welfare minister.
The Congress inducted Nagendra into the state cupboard once more on August 3 and defied BJP calls for for Nagendra’s resignation by stating that there was no proof to hyperlink him to the alleged corruption within the award of contracts.
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“Varied investigative businesses, together with the CBI, have carried out investigations. To date, no paperwork have been acquired that immediately present Nagendra to be responsible,” Karnataka CM D Ok Shivakumar mentioned on August 24 within the state legislature.
The resignation of Nagendra, a Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak neighborhood chief from the Ballari area, is prone to permit the Congress to make modifications within the state cupboard and induct two to a few new ministers.
Annapurna Tukaram, a first-time lady MLA who can be from the Ballari area and belongs to the ST Valmiki Nayak neighborhood, is seen as a probable alternative for Nagendra.
The exit of Nagendra might additionally permit the entry of Siddaramaiah’s shut confidante Byadgi MLA Basavaraj Shivappanavar or senior Bengaluru MLA M Krishnappa.
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Nagendra was inducted as a minister within the Congress cupboard for the primary time in Might 2023. Within the final Meeting elections, he defeated heavyweight BJP chief and former minister B Sreeramulu.
Throughout 2008-13, Nagendra was the BJP MLA from Kudligi and used to function an iron ore buying and selling agency that got here below the scanner for unlawful export of iron ore.
In his election affidavit in 2023, Nagendra acknowledged that there have been 26 instances associated to unlawful mining pending towards him, together with 4 CBI instances. He additionally declared Rs 17 crore in wealth in his 2023 affidavit.
