BENGALURU: The three-and-half year-old government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah suffered its biggest embarrassment yet with excise minister H. Y. Meti's exit after a CD in which he was caught in the act with a distant-relative and masseuse, Vijayalaxmi, made its way to TV channels on Wednesday.
Septuagenarian Hullappa Yamanappa Meti, a fellow Kuruba, was inducted into the cabinet by Mr Siddaramaiah less than six months ago as part of a strategy to help the Congress retain power in Assembly elections in 2018. A member of the erstwhile Janata Parivar like his leader, Mr Meti had set a record of sorts when he won from Bagalkote on a Congress ticket, a feat unrivaled during the last 35 years. He had served as a minister in the cabinet of H. D. Deve Gowda for two years before successfully contesting polls to Lok Sabha from Bagalkote.
The resignation and sordid episode involving Mr Meti comes couple of days ahead of vice president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Belagavi to address a public rally against demonetisation on December 17.
Mr Meti told the media he quit on moral grounds to save the party and government from embarrassment, he demanded a probe, which was acceded to by Mr Siddaramaiah who announced an inquiry by officers of CID while accepting his resignation letter. “I have decided to order a CID probe as Mr Meti still maintains that he is not the not the one (man) in that alleged video,” the Chief Minister told the media soon after forwarding the resignation letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
Speculation is rife about Mr Meti’s nemesis: his gunman, Subhas Mugalkhod, or the masseuse, Vijayalaxmi, with whom he was caught in the act. While one source said that the gunman has secretly recorded the sex video with the help of another woman, a few months before Meti was inducted into the Cabinet, and that he went public after his extortion demand of Rs 10 crore was whittled down to Rs 2 crores, the woman, Vijayalaxmi had been throwing her weight around in Bagalkote Ayurveda hospital after she allegedly began her relationship with the minister in a bid to secure full time employment.
The dirty picture
This was definitely not the perfect end to a tumultuous 2016 that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was looking forward to. On Wednesday, stung by the porn like visuals from a CD depicting Excise Minister H. Y. Meti and an ayurveda therapist in a sexual act, Mr Siddaramaiah had to accept the resignation of his Kuruba community colleague to avoid further embarrassment to the government and the ruling Congress.
The incident, which has gone viral on the Internet, is said to have happened a month ago with the minister's gunman reportedly capturing the scenes apparently to blackmail Meti. When that did not succeed, the gunman handed over the CD to RTI activist Rajasekhar Mulali with visual media doing the rest of the job.
A four-time legislator and a former Janata Parivar leader, 71-year old Meti was inducted into the cabinet four months ago. The incriminating video does not show the woman's face but does show the minister in his trademark spectacles.
