Karnataka Minister B. Nagendra Resigns Amid Financial Irregularity Allegations

Karnataka Minister B. Nagendra has resigned from his position as the minister for planning and statistics and has requested to step down as the MLA for Ballari Rural. The resignation comes 25 days after his induction into Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's cabinet and follows allegations of his involvement in the misappropriation of 89 crore rupees from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. During a press conference, a tearful Nagendra stated that he was resigning of his own volition to avoid causing embarrassment to the Congress party. He further challenged BJP leaders B. Sriramulu and G. Janardhan Reddy to face him in a by-election, which he described as a people's court, to clear his name politically.

Nagendra accused the BJP and JD(S) of being Manuwadis and claimed he was being targeted because they did not want a tribal man to grow. He asserted that the state run Special Investigative Team and the Criminal Investigation Department had given him a clean chit, though he noted that the Enforcement Directorate named him after his second induction into the cabinet. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar maintained that Nagendra is innocent and stated he would consult the party high command before making a final decision on the MLA resignation.

The resignation follows significant pressure from the opposition. The BJP and JD(S) had disrupted the monsoon legislature session and organized protest marches to the Vidhana Soudha to demand Nagendra's removal. While the BJP had planned a 10 day padayatra from Raichur to Ballari starting September 1, party leaders are now consulting on whether to proceed with the march given the resignation.