Seventh minister to go, third under a cloud
Ramachandra Gowda is the third minister to make an ignominious exit from the B S Yeddyurappa Cabinet.
The first was Es En Krishnaiah Setty, a one-time loyalist of Yeddyurappa, who was forced to quit as Housing Minister after his name was dragged into irregularities in land purchase by the Karnataka Housing Board. However, his exit was projected as making way for V Somanna, who joined the BJP after quitting the Congress.
Hartal Halappa, MLA, had to resign as Food and Civil Supplies Minister as he was caught in a rape scandal which is being probed by the CID.
Gowda is the seventh minister to resign since Yeddyurappa Cabinet took oath of office in May 2008. S K Bellubbi vacated the cabinet berth to accommodate Umesh Katti. He was followed by Setty.
Somanna had to resign after he lost the by-election. Shobha Karandlaje submitted her resignation following demand for her ouster within the party in October 2009. Halappa resigned over charges of rape. K S Eshwarappa quit the cabinet to accept the post of president of the party’s state unit. And, now Ramachandra Gowda over alleged irregularities in recruitment of ‘C’ and ‘D’ group employees in Hassan and Medical Colleges.
Since the reports of the irregularities appeared in a section of media, Gowda had maintained that the recruitment was in conformity with the rules. However, the reports submitted by IAS officers in the government proved him wrong.
