 "NSUI members protest in Bengaluru Prajwal Revanna’s alleged involvement in sexual abuses")
The Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), on Tuesday suspended its Hassan Lok Sabha member Prajwal Revanna from the party over an alleged sex scandal, a decision that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally, welcomed.
Polling for 14 of Karnataka’s 28 seats, including Hassan, which Prajwal, grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, has again contested, took place on April 26. However, with the remainder of the 14 seats set for polling in the third phase of the General Elections on May 7, the pressure on the allies was mounting to take action against Prajwal. At least 10 of the 19 JD(S) legislators had demanded that Prajwal be expelled from the party.
Amid protests by Congress workers in Karnataka over the alleged sexual harassment by 33-year-old Prajwal of several women, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress’ state government of “delayed” action. Police in Karnataka on Sunday booked Prajwal and his father H D Revanna on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation based on a complaint from a woman who worked in their household. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Shah said: “The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’.” In the national capital, at a press conference, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said of the JD(S) suspending Prajwal, “We are glad ... The law will take its course.” He said the BJP “will push for the full might of law against the accused”. As a Karnataka BJP member later has claimed that he had conveyed to his party leadership the existence of the purported videos involving Prajwal, Chandrasekhar said the presence of a “video” itself was not a crime and claimed that the fact that women were coerced and exploited had come out only now.
The Karnataka government on Sunday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal.
Police sources have said Prajwal has left the country. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought a report within three days from the Karnataka police over allegations of sexual abuse involving Prajwal.
Former Karnataka chief minister (CM) H D Kumaraswamy accused Deputy CM D K Shivakumar of conspiring to circulate the videos. “Bringing out the truth of the main accused is just one part of it. How the pen drive was circulated, and the ‘great leader’ (Shivakumar) who circulated it, for what reason it was circulated, for how many months the ‘great leader’ was aware of it. These are the questions,” Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hubballi.
Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s allegation, Shivakumar said, “Kumaraswamy had said in a television interview that the BJP high command had cautioned him that he (Prajwal) is not good and (should) think before giving him a ticket. He also said giving a ticket to Prajwal was his father Deve Gowda’s decision.” “The information I got is that nearly 200 to 300 families, their honour, their relatives, their women and daughters, JD(S) party workers and those whom they gave jobs, contractors…. I have not seen them all (videos) but people are saying this,” Shivakumar said.
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Prajwal Revanna’s former car driver Karthik and BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda have accused each other of leaking the purported videos.
