BENGALURU: Karnataka sports, youth services and ST welfare minister
B Nagendra
on Thursday resigned amid allegations of a Rs 88-crore fraud in
Valmiki welfare board
which comes under his department.
"No one pressured me to resign. With a clear conscience and to ensure people are not misled (about my alleged role in the scam), I've decided to resign to avoid embarrassment to the govt and the chief minister," Nagendra said before handing over his resignation letter to the CM, who forwarded it to the governor.
The four-time MLA from Ballari Rural is the first minister to resign from the one-year-old Siddaramaiah-led Congress govt. This is a second setback to Congress, which failed to get double-digit seats in the LS polls and came to power in 2023 highlighting alleged corruption in the previous BJP govt.
Nagendra was under pressure to resign after an alleged illegal money-transfer scam involving Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation came to light after its accounts superintendent, Chandrashekhar P, died by suicide on May 26 leaving behind a death note.
Cabinet to decide on CBI probe: Min
The note alleged unauthorized transfer of Rs 187 crore from the corporation's bank account, with Rs 88.6 crore illegally moved to various accounts allegedly belonging to "well-known" IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.
Home minister G Parameshwara said the state cabinet will decide on formally handing over the case to the CBI once it receives a formal request from the central agency.
Nagendra claimed he was unaware of the scam until it became public and maintained his innocence. "All allegations against me are baseless," he said.
He alleged such transfers had occurred in the past too when the department was headed by Govind Karjol, Kota Srinivas Poojary, and B Sriramulu, all from BJP.
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