BENGALURU: After three suspenseful weeks, former Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi on Saturday named a “politician from Kanakapura” as the key person behind the sleaze CD conspiracy. He said he would file a complaint with the SIT against this “Mahanayaka”, and would push for his arrest. He also threatened to contest from Kanakapura, and beat the politician on his own turf.
Taking a jibe at the politician, whom he declined to name, Jarkiholi said the “Mahanayaka was a ‘nalayak’ (useless person).” He also thanked the parents of the woman who is purportedly seen in the CD, for giving him a clean chit. “I am innocent, and I thank them for it,” he told the media here. An emotionally charged Jarkiholi said, “In my entire life and career, neither me nor my family members have cheated any woman.’’
Having dropped enough hints that the “kingpin” was none other than KPCC president DK Shivakumar, Jarkiholi said, “I will contest against him in Kanakapura. I will give up my Gokak seat to my brother, and I am willing to join hands with anyone, even H D Kumaraswamy, to contest in Kanakapura. It is an open challenge... There is a law in this country, see what happened in the DSP Ganapathy case.’’
Continuing with his charges against Shivakumar, Jarkiholi said, “He never mentioned that he knows the woman. In the CD released yesterday, it is clear that she is in conversation with her parents and mentions Shivakumar’s name twice. Now he is telling the media that he didn’t meet the woman, and that she went to meet him.”
Shivakumar reportedly told the media that at least 10 people come to meet him every day, and she was one of them, and also that he knew Naresh Gowda, the journalist involved in the expose. Claiming that he had more evidence to nail the conspirators, which he would hand over to the SIT, Jarkiholi said, “I have 11 pieces of evidence, like the CD that was released yesterday in which the woman was speaking to her parents and brother.” It is an open secret that Jarkiholi has employed detectives for this case.
On the role of politicians within the BJP who may have conspired against him, he said he would reveal their names to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. At the end of the press briefing, when asked about the safety of the “mystery woman in the CD”, Jarkiholi said, “If she dies, DK Shivakumar is responsible for it.”