Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Tuesday, April 30, questioned the Congress government in Karnataka as to why it did not take action against Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna, who is a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate seeking re-election to the Hassan Lok Sabha seat. He has been accused of sexual abuse of multiple women, videos of which started doing the rounds two weeks ago.
G Devaraje Gowda, who was Bharatiya Janata Party’s Holenarsipura candidate during the 2023 Assembly elections, had written to state president BY Vijayendra on December 8, 2023, warning against nominating Prajwal. The same day he also wrote a letter to BL Santosh, senior Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh Pracharak and National General Secretary (Org), BJP. However, the BJP-JD(S) alliance named Prajwal as their candidate for Hassan.
Stating that the BJP supports an investigation into the allegations, Amit Shah said he expects the party’s alliance partner JD(S) to take strict action on the issue during their core committee meeting in Hubballi on April 30. He added that the BJP stands with the “Matr Shakti” of the country.
“The videos being circulated would have come to the notice of the Congress government in Karnataka, as it was released on time. Why has the Congress party failed to take action on the issue? It is not our duty to investigate as law and order is a state subject. Priyanka Gandhi should question her Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister instead of questioning the BJP,” Shah said.
Prajwal Revanna is the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, son of Holenarsipura MLA HD Revanna, and nephew of party chief HD Kumaraswamy.
The allegations against Prajwal emerged after a women’s rights group filed a complaint with the state women’s commission, which then wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the state DGP directing to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The state government formed an SIT, on April 28, led by Additional DG IGP BK Singh, to investigate all complaints related to this case. Meanwhile, Prajwal fled the country to Frankfurt on April 27 and is expected to return in a week’s time. Sources in the JD(S) said that party supremo Deve Gowda will make the final call and the party is likely to announce the suspension of Prajwal Revanna from the party.
