On Tuesday (30th April), Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the Congress-led Karnataka government for its tardiness in acting on complaints of sexual misconduct against Janata Dal-Secular leader Prajwal Revanna.
During a media interaction in Guwahati, Minister Shah said: “BJP’s stand is clear that we stand with the ‘Matr Shakti’ of the country. I want to ask Congress, whose government is there? The government is of Congress Party. Why they have not taken any action till now? We do not have to take action on this as this is a law and order issue of the state, state government has to take action on it…”
Amit Shah added that the BJP is in support of an investigation into the matter and the JD(S) has called a meeting of its core committee to decide what steps to be taken.
“We are in favour of the investigation and our partner JD(S) has also announced to take action against it. Today there is a meeting of their core committee and steps will be taken…” Shah said.
Reacting to Priyanka Gandhi raising questions against the alleged inaction by the Modi government against Prajwal Revanna, Shah said, that instead of questioning PM Modi she should question Karnataka CM Siddaramiah since law and order is a state subject. “What is your [Congress] government doing? Why there is no investigation?” Shah said.
Notably, “public order” and “police” are State subjects as listed by the Indian Constitution’s Seventh Schedule. The respective State Governments are in responsible for upholding law and order, safeguarding citizens’ lives and property, and combating crimes against women.
JDS suspends Hassan MP and current candidate Prajwal Revanna from Party
The JDS has announced the suspension of sitting Hassan MP and their current candidate for the seat Prajwal Revanna from the party in view of the sexual harassment scandal against him. The reports multiple of videos in circulation allegedly involving multiple women, including the staff and servants at the residence of the Revanna family has been the primary reason behind the suspension.
Earlier today, Prajwal’s uncle and former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy had announced that appropriate action will be taken by the party’s core committee after due discussion.
Congress govt knew about the videos months ago: Says Prajwal’s driver
Meanwhile, Karthik Reddy, the former driver of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna claimed on Tuesday that Revanna’s alleged sex scandal was known to Congress leaders months prior.
Speaking to IndiaToday, the driver said that he had given Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar the pendrive months prior, on which he allegedly had multiple videos of Prajwal Revanna and his victims.
In a conversation with TimesNow, Deveraj Gowda, Advocate & Former BJP MLA said: “My client gave me a pen drive. When I saw the pen drive, there were obscene videos in it. I asked him if this video has been given to someone, and he said yes, it has been given to D. K. Shivakumar. The next morning, I wrote a letter to JP Nadda JI, Modi JI, Amit Shah Ji… about the video… I said that we have to be very careful about making an alliance with JDS because the video has already reached Congress, and during the time of the elections, it might create problems for us…”
There are allegations that the ruling government sat on the videos and did not take any action for months because they wanted to use it politically at an opportune moment just before the elections.
Prajwal Revanna flees India just before Karnataka govt announces SIT formation
As reported earlier, Prajwal Revanna fled India a day after the state of Karnataka decided to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations of rape, sexual exploitation, and the 2976 obscene videos that have allegedly surfaced. The videos surfaced on social media barely two days before the first round of Karnataka’s Lok Sabha elections on 26th April. Revanna is said to have fled to Frankfurt on the 28th morning of April from Bengaluru.
On Sunday, Revanna was charged with sexual harassment based on complaints filed by his former housekeeper. The woman stated that she was sexually abused multiple times by Revanna and his father between 2019 and 2022. His father, JD(S) leader HD Revanna has also been booked in this connection. The case has been filed under sections 354A, 354D, 506, and 509 of the IPC on charges of sexual harassment, intimidation, and demeaning of a woman’s dignity.