A letter by a BJP leader about the complaints against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has provided another dimension to the raging controversy over the alleged sex scandal that has hit Karnataka politics. BJP leader Devaraje Gowda had warned the state leadership about allegations against JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, before his name was announced as the NDA candidate for the Hassan Lok Sabha seat.
Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days.
“If we align with the JD(S) and if we nominate a JD(S) candidate in Hassan for the Lok Sabha elections, these videos can be used as a brahmastra (weapon) and we will be tainted as a party that aligned with the family of a rapist. This will be a big blow to the image of our party nationally,” Devaraje Gowda said in a letter to state party chief B Y Vijayendra.
Read | ‘Must be pre-planned’: Karnataka ex-CM Basavaraj Bommai on sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna
Gowda urged Vijayendra to apprise the national leaders about the controversy and convince them not to align with HD Revanna’s family in Hassan district.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera posed several questions putting the BJP under scrutiny for going ahead with the alliance and fielding Revanna from Hassan. Sharing a copy of the letter, Khera asked why the BJP went ahead with the alliance despite a leader “exposing the presence of the pen drive full of sleaze videos of Prajwal Revanna.”
Khera also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in election campaigning alongside Hassan MP “despite knowing that Prajwal is the kingpin of world’s biggest & murkiest sex abuse.”
Prajwal Revanna is said to have left the country for Germany.
“Who helped Prajwal Revanna escape to Germany?” Khera wrote.
Read: JD(S) lawmaker seeks Prajwal Revanna’s expulsion over sexual harassment charges
Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge on Monday claimed that the BJP has helped Hassan MP escape authorities in the alleged obscene video case.
“They (BJP) ensured that he fled the country. Today, if he’s left the country as the rumours are being floated, then how did he leave the country? Who facilitated it? I’m directly blaming the BJP on this front,” Kharge told ANI.
Kharge hit out at the BJP-led NDA for fielding Prajwal Revanna again in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Despite knowing the fact that the Hassan MP (Prajwal Revanna) was known for such antecedents, despite letters being received by them from BJP functionaries, from BJP office bearers, that there are thousands of victims who have been abused by the Hassan MP. Still, they went in and gave the ticket. They were so quick to capitalize on the Hubballi murder case. Why are they so silent now? Why aren’t they protesting in every town? Why aren’t they protesting in every village like they did during the Hubballi murder?” he asked.
A first information report (FIR) was lodged against Prajwal Revanna and his father HD Revanna, an MLA representing Holenarasipur, based on a complaint by a woman who had worked at Revanna’s house. Meanwhile, the Karnataka government constituted a special investigation team following a letter by the Chairperson of the Women’s Commission Dr Nagalakshmi.
With Bureau inputs
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