Bhubaneswar: Orissa's Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal late on Wednesday resigned amidst vociferous demand by opposition parties for his ouster over his alleged involvement in a sex scandal.
"I have tendered my resignation on moral grounds in order to keep the image of my party (BJP) and the alliance (with BJD)," Samal said after submitting the papers to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The chief minister said he has recommended Samal's resignation to Governor M C Bhandare for acceptance.
Maintaining that he resigned in keeping with the high traditions and values of his party, the senior BJP leader described as "false, baseless and fictitious" the allegation about his involvement in any sexual escapade.
Claiming that the party central leaders had full confidence in him, Samal said there was absolutely no pressure on him from the party to step down.
Asked as to why he took so much time to quit though the issue began rocking the state and the assembly since the last week of November, Samal said he wanted to apprise top BJP leaders including party chief Rajnath Singh about the reality.
Stating that he had been respecting value based politics during his 35-year-long political career, Samal said, "My resignation will be an example before others because I stepped down on moral ground over a non-issue. There was no complaint against me."
Samal, who also held food and civil supplies portfolio, said he does not want his party and the ruling combine to be embarrassed over the issue any more.
"I don't think it is proper to continue in the ministry and enable the opposition to derive mileage out of the situation," he said.
Accusing the opposition of trying to tarnish his image as well as that of the BJD-BJP government in the state by raising the issue, he said the campaign against him was aimed at misleading the people.
Terming as politically motivated the opposition campaign for his resignation, he said the woman with whom his name was linked had already denied the allegation and lodged a defamation suit against the newspaper which published the "fabricated" report about the scandal.
Stating that he himself and the chief minister had given statements in the assembly about the controversy, Samal said though Patnaik had asked the opposition to furnish evidence in support of their allegation, they were unable to come out with any proof so far.
Samal was the 12th Orissa minister to either resign or get dropped during Naveen Patnaik's second term as chief minister since 2004.
About ten ministers in Patnaik's first term from 2000 to 2004 had either resigned or were removed from the ministry, sources said.
Samal is the third senior leader in the Naveen Patnaik government to resign over a sex scandal.
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