BJP MLA in Karnataka resigns over harassment charges

BJP legislator and Chairman of state-owned Karnataka Electronics Development Corporation M P Renukacharya has submitted his resignation in the wake of the furore over the blackmailing and harassment charges levelled against him by a nurse.

Renukacharya, who represents Honnali assembly constituency in Karnataka’s Davangere district, has resigned from the Legislative Assembly and as the Chairman of Karnataka Electronics Development Corporation after the nurse, attempted to committed suicide by consuming poison inside her locked car in Bangalore.

After sending his resignation letter to BJP’s Karnataka unit President D V Sadananda Gowda yesterday, Renukacharya has urged the authorities to carry out a narco-analysis on the woman B R Jayalakshmi, who is presently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bangalore.

Renukacharya has sought a detailed inquiry into the allegations levelled against him. “I don’t want the allegations levelled against me to besmirch the reputation of my party. I will remain outside power till I am cleared of the charges levelled against me”, he said.

Claiming innocence, the BJP MLA said he had become a victim of a conspiracy hatched by his political opponents.

Renukacharya’s resignation comes after a large number of Youth Congress workers gathered outside the private hospital, where Jayalakshmi is undergoing treatment, seeking the immediate arrest of the BJP MLA.

Before attempting suicide, Jayalakshmi, who is also the Secretary of Green City Charitable and Education Trust, had sent a suicide note to the City police accusing the BJP MLA of forcing her to brink of suicide by continuously tormenting her.

In her suicide note to the police, Jayalakshmi claimed that she had come across the BJP legislator when she was working as a nurse in Honnalli a couple of years ago before shifting to Bangalore. Renukacharya kept visiting her even in Bangalore and had been pestering her to marry him since the last six months, she claimed.

Renukacharya’s supporters had even threatened to throw acid on her face and make public her obscene photographs if she failed to comply with his demands. Jayalakshmi said she had sought police intervention several times, but to no avail. The woman claimed that she had also brought the matter to the notice of senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. “But, nobody has come to my rescue”, she has claimed in the letter.