Karnataka Minister K S Eshwarappa, who has been booked in connection with the suspected suicide of civil contractor Santosh K Patil, on Thursday announced his resignation.

“I have served as the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister in the Karnataka government. I have taken a decision today to resign from my ministerial position,” Eshwarappa said while addressing the press in Shivamogga on Thursday.

He added that he would tender his resignation letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday.

“I decided to resign because I don’t want to put in an uncomfortable situation those who helped me rise to this position, such as seniors in the party, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and our national leaders,” Eshwarappa added.

Also Read: Teen girl’s plea to Karnataka CM: Allow hijab, stop our future from ruin

Eshwarappa is facing charges of abetment to suicide in connection with the death of civil contractor Santosh K Patil, who was found dead in a hotel in Udupi.

Patil had accused the BJP leader and his close aides of demanding a 40% commission for executing a civic work in a village in Belagavi in 2021. His death has triggered a major political row, with the opposition Congress demanding his resignation or his dismissal from the Cabinet.

On Thursday afternoon, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala along with many top Congress leaders courted arrest while marching to lay siege to Basavaraj Bommai’s residence.

Following this, the CM said Congress did not have a “moral right” to protest. 

“The Congress doesn’t have any moral right to protest. Congress is a Gangotri of corruption. The postmortem (in the case) was done yesterday, and now a preliminary inquiry(report) will come. Based on that we’ll proceed,” Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.