Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar asked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai why he was accepting minister KS Eshwarappa’s resignation if he had not done anything wrong.
“The chief minister said that Eshwarappa has not done anything wrong. If he didn’t do anything then why are you accepting his resignation?” asked Shivakumar on Friday.
Three days after he was named as an accused in a case registered over a contractor Santosh Patil’s death, Eshwarappa announced that he would resign from the cabinet on Friday evening.
Before his death, Patil had accused Eshwarappa and his associates of not releasing payments for road work worth Rs 4 crore which he had done at Hindalga in Belagavi and of “demanding a commission of 40 per cent”.
Patil had said that Eshwarappa should be held responsible if something happened to him.
The Congress has been demanding the BJP minister’s arrest in connection with the death of the contractor.
Patil was found dead Tuesday in a lodge in Udupi. He is suspected to have consumed poison, and the police are investigating it as a case of suicide.
