Karnataka Minister Resigns Amid Ongoing Scandal Investigations

Planning and Statistics Minister B Nagendra’s resignation , just 25 days after the much-deliberated cabinet expansion on August 3, has unsettled the DK Shivakumar government even before it could overcome the birth pangs over cabinet formation. It also exposed the Congress central leadership’s failure of foresight. Nagendra, a four-term MLA from the ST Valmiki Nayaka community, faced the ignominy of resigning twice during the same tenure over the same issue. It is surprising that the party did not anticipate it, given the ongoing investigations by central agencies into the multi-crore scam at the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, a state government entity. But what compelled them to bring him into the cabinet against all odds? Whose decision was it? What ‘X’ factor did he bring to the party or the government? Those in the know about developments within the party believe that Nagendra was the party high command’s pick. The party felt he was not involved in any wrongdoing and that, as for ongoing investigations, many Union ministers also had cases pending against them. That argument did not help them. The contention that the party decided to let him go to blunt the BJP’s proposed padayatra from September 1 in the North Karnataka region may be true to some extent. But that’s not the only reason. In Karnataka, Congress is a formidable organisation. It could have countered the opposition’s pushback politically, as it did when BJP-JDS took out the “Mysuru Chalo” padayatra in August 2024 demanding then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s resignation over the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites allotment case. Congress countered it by holding “Janandolana” (Public Movement) rallies. Siddaramaiah’s family returned 14 sites allotted to it by MUDA in a posh locality in his hometown, Mysuru, even as they fought the case legally and politically.