By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah Thursday accepted the resignation of former state health minister and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker B. Sriramulu, a close associate of Bellary mining barons Reddy brothers.
According to state legislature secretariat, Bopaiah has informed Sriramulu of his decision to accept his resignation as a member from the Bellary rural (reserved) constituency, about 300 km from here.
Sriramulu, who was cabinet minister in the ruling party’s first government in south India under former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, resigned Sept 4.
He put in his papers after he was denied a cabinet berth in the new BJP ministry headed by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda following his indictment by then Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) Justice (Retd) N. Santosh Hegde in the multi-crore illegal mining scam in the state.
“I am resigning from the assembly as my image and prestige has been damaged after the Lokayukta report named me, though I have not done any wrong,” Sriramulu, a two-time lawmaker, told reporters here Sept 4.
Sriramulu belongs to the Scheduled Tribes community of Valmikis.
With the party’s state unit president K. Eshwarappa Tuesday firmly ruling out Sriramulu’s induction in the new cabinet as he was indicted in the mining scam, Bopaiah acted on the resignation letter.
Besides Sriramulu, Reddy brothers – G. Janardhana and G. Karunakara – who were ministers in the Yeddyurappa cabinet, were also named in the Lokayukta report.
Hegde had recommended July 27 that all three ministers be dropped from the ministry.