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 GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

, 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 List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP), he represents

Gokak Gokak or Gōkāka is a taluka headquarters in the Belagavi district of Karnataka state, India. It is located around 70 km from Belagavi at the confluence of the Ghataprabha and Markandeya rivers. The population of the city is approx 2530 ...

in the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly (formerly the Mysore Legislative Assembly) is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature ...

. 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, is an Indian politician who is serving as the 22nd List of chief ministers of Karnataka, chief minister of Karnataka from 20 May 2023. He also held that position previo ...

-led government of Karnataka as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. 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 Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

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

, 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, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. 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 (formerly the Mysore Legislative Council) is the upper house of the state legislature of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of six Indian states with a bicameral legislature; the Legislative Assembly is the lower ho ...

representing the Yemkanamardi constituency in

Belgaum District Belagavi district, formerly also known as Belgaum district, is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The district is known as the sugar bowl of Karnataka with hectares being used for commercial production. It has overtaken Mandya distri ...

. 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 a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

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 () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

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) {{Infobox Indian Political Party , party_name = Janata Dal (Secular) , party_logo = , colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular) , abbreviation = JD(S) , president = H. D. Deve Gowda , founder ...

by over 28,000 votes.

Ministry

Besides holding the Small Scale Industries Ministry portfolio Jarkiholi was also the

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 Lakshmi Ravindra Hebbalkar (born 28 May 1975) is an Indian politician from Karnataka. She is currently serving as the Minister of Women and Child Development, and Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment in the Government of Karnataka. As a m ...

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. 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 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 Karnataka MLAs 2023–2028