JD(S) suspends MP Prajwal Revanna from party over alleged sex scandal

Bengaluru: JD(S) on Tuesday suspended its Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna from the party with immediate effect over an alleged sex scandal involving him.

The suspension came minutes after the party core committee that met in Hubballi recommended his suspension to its national president and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who is also Revanna's grandfather.

"Videos of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna allegedly harassing women are widely in circulation on social media and media and this has caused huge embarrassment to the party and its leadership," the suspension order said.

Stating that the Congress government in Karnataka has constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate this, it said, "In this backdrop, as per JD(S)' party constitution and rules regarding breach of discipline and punishment, Prajwal Revanna has been suspended with immediate effect."

The suspension order, signed by party General Secretary K R Shivakumar, was released to the media following approval from the JD(S) national President.

Hassan MP candidate of BJP-JD(S)

Prajwal is the BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan, which went to the polls on Friday. The 33-year-old is the son of H D Deve Gowda's elder son H D Revanna, who is an MLA and a former Minister. Prajwal's uncle H D Kumaraswamy is state president of JD(S).

Speaking to reporters in Hubballi after the core committee meeting, its chief and MLA G T Devegowda said, "Regarding allegations on Prajwal Revanna, Karnataka government has constituted a SIT and they have started the investigation, we welcome it. As the investigation is on and the report is still awaited. We have decided not to interfere in the process and extend full cooperation to the investigation."

He had earlier said: "We have also made a unanimous resolution to suspend him (Prajwal) from the party, and have made a recommendation in this regard to our national President H D Deve Gowda. As he (Prajwal) is a Lok Sabha member our national president has to take action. We have asked him to immediately take action."

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days.

The government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged sex scandal involving the MP.

The core committee meeting was attended by state JD(S) President H D Kumaraswamy and other members.

Kumaraswamy said, the decision is to suspend Prajwal, and the tenure of the suspension is based on the SIT probe report and government action on it.

"We welcome the SIT probe. The suspension is until the SIT report on Prajwal's role. If it comes in the report that he is guilty, he will be permanently suspended," he added.

Driver and BJP leader accuse each other

Prajwal Revanna’s former car driver Karthik and BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the JD(S) Hassan MP which has caused a big embarrassment to the regional party.

In a video message on social media, the driver said that he worked with Prajwal Revanna for the last 15 years but it has been a year since he has not been with him.

“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.

“Devaraje Gowda told me to hand over the photos and videos which he promised to hand over to the judge to help vacate the stay. Trusting him, I gave him a copy, which he used,” the driver claimed.

“Other than Devaraje Gowda, I did not give this video to Congress leaders or anyone else. I did not give the videos and photos to Congress leaders because they were quite close to Prajwal. Hence, I approached Devaraje Gowda, but he too cheated me,” Karthik alleged.

Amit Shah will not tolerate insult to women

Union Home Minister Amit Shah condemned the alleged sexual abuse of women involving Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna, asserting that the BJP will not tolerate any insult to women.

“The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’ (women empowerment),” he asserted.

Inputs from PTI