The governor accepted the resignation on the recommendation of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
The official notification issued in this connection on August 29 was released to the media on Sunday.
“I have accepted the recommendation of the Chief Minister and in exercise of the powers vested in me under Article 164 (1) of the Constitution of India, I, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Governor of Karnataka, hereby accept the resignation of B Nagendra, Minister for Planning and Statistics from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect,” he said.
Nagendra, slammed by the opposition for his alleged role in the Rs 89 crore Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation ‘scam’, had announced his resignation on Friday, just 25 days after his re-induction in the Shivakumar-led Cabinet in an expansion.
Asserting that he had no role in the scam, Nagendra said he resigned voluntarily to avoid embarrassment to the party and the government.
The opposition BJP-JD(S) combine had kept up the heat against the Ballary legislator with relentless criticism and protests, even disrupting the monsoon session of the state legislature and forcing its curtailment by three days ahead of the schedule recently.He later submitted the resignation formally to Shivakumar, who said he would take a call on it on Saturday in consultation with the party high command.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea to the governor seeking sanction for prosecution against Nagendra is also believed to have influenced the decision regarding his resignation. Gehlot is said to have written to the state government on the central agency’s plea.
The BJP has announced proceeding with a 10-day padayatra (footmarch) from Raichur to Ballari starting September 1 to highlight the Congress government’s alleged failures in the state, during which it plans to highlight the Nagendra issue.
Nagendra, who resigned from the previous Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet in June, 2024, following allegations of embezzling money, was inducted into the K Shivakumar-led Ministry on August 3, and given the Planning and Statistics portfolio.
He was Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare, Youth Empowerment and Sports in the previous Siddaramaiah government.
The ED had arrested the Congress MLA in the Valmiki corporation scam in July 2024, and a Special Court in Bengaluru granted him bail in October that year.
Nagendra has been named in the chargesheet by the ED and CBI in connection with the case.
