Bengaluru: The Hassan ‘sex-scandal’ took a new turn Tuesday as Prajwal Revanna’s ex-driver contradicted a JD(S) leader’s claim that he given a pen drive — having videos of alleged obscene videos — to the Congress leaders.
“He (JD(S) leader Devaraje Gowda) is making false allegations that I had given the pen drive to Congress leaders before I gave him the pen drive. But I gave the pen drive only to the BJP leader and defeated Holenarsipura candidate (Devaraje) and not anyone else,” Prajwal’s ex-driver Karthik Reddy said in a video statement released to the media.
“The reason (for distancing from Prajwal) was that my land was taken away and my wife was beaten up. I was mentally tortured. Because my land was taken away, I came out of the job and started my fight (to get back land),” Karthik said in the message.
ThePrint could not independently verify the video.
Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and nephew of former chief minister H. D. Kumaraswamy.
The development came on a day when the Janata Dal (Secular) unanimously decided to suspend its lone member of parliament, Prajwal Revanna, from the party after allegations of sexual assault and harassment surfaced against him.
Prajwal is accused of sexual assault against scores of women and videos of his alleged sexual exploits and assaults have flooded social media. One of the alleged victims has come forward and made a complaint against the Hassan MP and his former minister father, H.D.Revanna.
The JD(S) MP is said to have fled the country and his whereabouts remain unknown. Senior JD(S) leader G.T.Deve Gowda told ThePrint that Prajwal will return to India soon but did not specify where he is at the moment or the date of his return.
According to Devaraje Gowda, Prajwal had secured a gag order on the publishing of the contents of the pen drive in June last year and in October, he wrote to the national leaders, informing them of the videos and not to field the MP from Hassan.
The allegations have embarrassed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and JD(S) alliance ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka in which 14 northern constituencies will vote on 7 May.
In September last year, Prajwal was disqualified as an MP but secured a stay later. The Karnataka High Court had declared null and void the 2019 election of Prajwal for withholding information in his affidavit. This was after a case was filed against him.
Earlier in the day, a grim-looking Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hubballi, about 450 km from Bengaluru, at the end of the party’s core committee meeting that the party unanimously decided to suspend its lone MP.
“The core committee’s decision is that the JD(S) will oppose any act that causes injustice to women,” a grim-looking Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hubballi, about 450 km from Bengaluru, at the end of the party’s core committee meeting.
The suspension will remain in effect until the Special Investigation Team (SIT) completes its probe and further action against the MP will depend on the findings, Kumaraswamy said, giving details about the decision taken against his nephew.
Also Read: Karnataka sets up SIT to probe ‘obscene videos’ case involving Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna
‘Hang Prajwal’
The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government announced the setting up of a SIT Sunday to probe the allegations against Prajwal. The Congress has also used these allegations to question the BJP, and its commitment to protect women.
Prajwal’s alleged offences have put the already beleaguered JD(S) and its leaders in a spot. “We are all suffering because of the deeds of one person,” said a close aide of Kumaraswamy.
“Hang Prajwal Revanna if found guilty but do not tarnish the reputation and influence of our family,” Kumaraswamy said, alleging that there were forces at play to undermine the family of former prime minister H.D.Deve Gowda.
Deve Gowda has nine members of his immediate family, including Kumaraswamy, Revanna and Prajwal, in active politics. Kumaraswamy and Prajwal are contesting from Mandya and Hassan respectively, while Deve Gowda’s Dr C.N.Manjunath is contesting from Bengaluru Rural on a BJP ticket.
But the developments have added to the growing fissures within the Gowda household with two of his sons — Kumaraswamy and Revanna — trying to outdo each other to take control of the party from their ailing father.
Kumaraswamy is trying to distance himself, Deve Gowda from the family of Revanna in an attempt to salvage the party — or what’s left of it. He has gone all out against the Congress party and its senior leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K.Shivakumar.
According to statements of Prajwal’s former driver Karthik and BJP leader Devaraje Gowda, Shivakumar had the videos many months ago but chose not to act on it.
Kumaraswamy said that even though Prajwal should be probed, he questioned the malice in Shivakumar’s ploy to release these videos without blurring the faces of the alleged victims.
Amit Malviya, the head of BJP’s IT department, Tuesday posted questions for Siddaramaiah on social media platform ‘X’.
Questions for Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah:
– did DMC DK Shivkumar tell you about the videos in the pen drive?
– what did you do after that? The pen drive was been in your deputy’s possession for three months now.
– why no action was taken on Prajwal Revanna for three months?
– why… https://t.co/HAAgkE7OWK— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) April 30, 2024
Kumaraswamy lashed out at the Congress for trying to link Prajwal’s alleged misdeeds with PM Modi endorsing him for the elections. “What is the relation between the PM and Prajwal Revanna?”
The BJP gave three seats — Mandya, Kolar and Hassan — and it was the JD(S ’s prerogative to name Prajwal and not that of the BJP, he added.
Though Kumaraswamy feigned innocence about the existence of these videos, he had earlier remarked against fielding Prajwal but said that his father was insistent. He also hinted at the videos being sent to Dubai as well from where it eventually made its way into Hassan, the JD(S) family bastion, days before it went to the polls on 26 April.
Meanwhile, CM Siddaramaiah slammed the opposition for dragging a family tragedy into the ongoing controversy. “My son died where…in a foreign country… I didn’t speak to Narendra Modi at all. What was necessity for me to speak to Modi. He (my son) died (and) we brought his body. That’s all. They shouldn’t lie like this. I didn’t speak to Narendra Modi or anyone from the Union government,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Belagavi district, responding to the JD(S) claim that the PM had not revealed details of his son’s death in Belgium in 2016.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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