Ramesh Jarkiholi (born 1 May 1960) an Indian politician, former minister of Water Resources in the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

, between 2020 and 2021. As member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

(BJP), he represents

Gokak Gokak is a taluka headquarters in the Belgaum district of Karnataka state, India. It is located around 70 km from Belgaum at the confluence of two rivers, the Ghataprabha and the Markandeya. The population of the city is according to 20 ...

in the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are ...

. He previously served as the Minister for Municipal Administration. Jarkiholi is a six-time member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. In June 2016, he was inducted into the

Siddaramaiah Siddaramaiah (born 3 August 1947), also referred to by his nickname Siddu, Siddaramaiah served as Chief Minister of Karnataka from 13 May 2013 to 17 May 2018 and currently serving as the leader of the opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assemb ...

-led government of Karnataka as a cabinet minister. He held the Small Scale Industries Ministry portfolio. He was disqualified from the assembly as per the anti-defection law in 2019, but was re-elected to the assembly on a BJP ticket in December 2019.

Early life

Jarkiholi was born in Belgaum in 1960 to a prominent sugarcane growing family and businessman Laxmanrao Jarkiholi. He is from Valmiki Nayaka community designated as a Scheduled Tribe in India's reservation system. His 4 siblings are all also in politics, 3 with Congress and 2 with BJP.

Political career

Jarkiholi defected to the

and represented Gokak Assembly Constituency of Belgaum, Karnataka. The constituency has been ruled by the Jarkiholi family for over 15 years. He was previously associated with

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. Three members of the Jarkiholi family, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Balachandra Jarkiholi and Satish Jarkiholi contest from Gokak, Arabhavi and Yamakanamaradi Assembly constituencies respectively from different political parties. Ramesh Jarkiholi's brother Satish Jarkiholi is a current member of the

Karnataka Legislative Council The Karnataka Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in South Western India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses: the Le ...

representing the Yemkanamardi constituency in Belgaum District. Ramesh Jarkiholi was first elected to the

in 1999 by beating Naik Chandrashekhar Sadashiva of the

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...

by over 55,000 votes. In the 2004 elections he won the seat against Muttennavar Mallappa Laxman of the

by over 15,000 votes. In the 2008

elections he beat the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

candidate Ashok Ningayya Pujari by over 7,000 votes. Jarkiholi was a sitting member of the

as he retained his Gokak Assembly by beating Ashok Ningayya Pujari of the Janata Dal (Secular) by over 28,000 votes.

Ministry

Besides holding the Small Scale Industries Ministry portfolio Jarkiholi was also the Belgaum District Guardian Minister in-charge of the District. As the Guardian Minister in-charge of the District Jarkiholi took up causes of poor patients and instructed health department officials to initiate action against private hospitals who fail to display their charges as per the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act for their hospital services.

Controversies

Operation Kamala

In October 2018, Jarkiholi convinced other MLAs from Belagavi to rebel against Congress. He was angry at being dropped from Ministry and having troubleshooter DK Shivakumar influencing Belagavi politics, because DKS got Jarkiholi's rival Lakshmi Hebbalkar elected as MLA from Belagavi (Rural) and made her President of KPCC Women's Wing. He organized 14 other Congress MLAs to resign their posts. He was one of the 15 MLAs from Congress and 2 from JD(S) who resigned in July 2019, bringing down the HDK Congress-JD(S) coalition and allowing BSY to return to power. After Supreme Court ruling held up their disqualification but allowed them to run, Jarkiholi joined BJP along with all other rebels inducted by Sri B.S. Yeddyurappa and other important persons. He was given BJP ticket for by poll for his Gokak seat. He then handily defeated his challengers in bypolls in December, beating his nearest rival, his brother Lakhan contesting as a Congress candidate, by almost 30,000 votes.

Sex scandal

On 2 March 2021, charges were filed against Jarkiholi for sexually harassing a woman on the pretext of getting her a government job. Video clips emerged purporting to show Jarkiholi getting intimate with the victim. Although he denied the charges, Jarkiholi resigned just before the budget session. Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sensational sex scandal allegedly involving Ramesh Jarkiholi.

References

External links

Karnataka Legislative Assembly

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarkiholi, Ramesh Living people Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Karnataka MLAs 2018–2023 Corruption in Karnataka 1960 births Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka MLAs 1999–2004 Karnataka MLAs 2004–2007 Karnataka MLAs 2008–2013 Karnataka MLAs 2013–2018