Ramesh Jarkiholi claims CD ‘fake’, blames four leaders

March 09, 2021 12:53 pm | Updated 01:04 pm IST - Bengaluru:

Former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi speaks on the CD scandal, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi speaks on the CD scandal, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who resigned over an alleged "sex for favours" scandal last week, alleged “1,2,3,4” - four leaders were behind the conspiracy to defame him, but refused to disclose their names. He held a press conference on Tuesday, days after the complainant Dinesh Kallahalli sought to withdraw his complaint over the issue.

Alleging the CD was “fake and created”, he said he “knew of this CD being created four months ago itself”, but thought he would face it, like he faced a similar leak of an allegedly fabricated audio clip during elections.

“Why should I fear when it is fake?,” he asked, when quizzed why he did not lodge a complaint.

“The conspiracy to create this CD was hatched on the fifth floor of a building next to Orion Mall and on the fourth floor of another building near Yeshwanthpur Police Station,” he said cryptically without naming anyone. He also alleged “as far as his information goes”, the woman in the alleged CD was “paid ₹5 crore and given two flats abroad and not just ₹50 lakh as was being rumoured about”.

Claiming this was not a political conspiracy against the government, he said it was a conspiracy to defame him personally.

“H. D. Kumaraswamy was one of the first to call and speak to me after the CD was leaked. If he had a grudge that I was key in toppling his government, he wouldn’t have done that. The chief minister and even the high command of BJP has supported me. Nobody asked me to resign, I resigned on my own will to avoid embarrassment to the party and the government I worked so hard to bring to power. I have no enemies in Congress as well,” he said, but added: “A day after I took charge as water resources minister, a big leader challenged me publicly that I won't last in the department beyond three months. But I did work that people appreciated. That leader is behind the conspiracy”.

When quizzed on his brother Balachandra Jarkiholi’s statement that the “conspiracy extended from Bengaluru to Belagavi”, he said he would stand by every word of his brother.

Mr. Jarkiholi turned emotional and said more than his political career, his family’s respect was at stake and he would fight to the finish to preserve that. “I may or may not come back to politics, but for us, our family’s honour is at stake. How much ever it costs, I don’t care. I will wage a legal battle to the finish and ensure those behind this conspiracy and created this fake CD are sent to jail,” he vowed.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.