State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Hartalu Halappa resigned on Sunday following allegations that he attempted to sexually assault his friend’s wife. The allegations, which Halappa called baseless, were published in the Sunday edition of a Kannada daily, and Halappa resigned soon after on moral grounds.

Halappa, 48, who is considered to be in the inner circle of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, is alleged to have committed the crime in November 2009. Within hours of Halappa's exit, the woman and her husband lodged a complaint of rape and criminal intimidation against him with the police.

Halappa has termed the allegations a conspiracy from within his own party intended to depose him.

“There is no truth in it. I am being targeted. I am quitting on moral grounds. I don’t want to embarrass my party, partymen and the government. Let them come out with evidence to prove the charge,” he said on Sunday.

Yeddyurappa said, “Prima facie, there appears to be no truth in the allegations. I told him not to take a hasty decision but he forced me to accept his resignation, saying he does not want to embarrass the party, and he wants to clear his name.”

Halappa had won the Sorab constituency in Yeddyurappa’s home district of Shimoga in the 2008 Assembly elections, defeating two-term MLA Kumar Bangarappa, the son of former chief minister S Bangarappa.

Halappa has been engaged in a bitter personal and political feud with another BJP MLA from the region, Belur Gopalakrishna. During a political coup staged against Yeddyurappa in November last year, Gopalakrishna, who was in the rebel camp led by the Reddy brothers, had demanded the ouster of Halappa as a pre-condition to ending the rebellion. The demand was, however, not agreed to when a solution to the crisis was hammered out by senior BJP leaders. Gopalakrishna has denied playing any part in bringing the alleged incident to light.

The BJP hinted that the allegations were intended to hurt the prospects of the party in the gram panchayat polls, scheduled for May 12.