Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) alliance, are finding it difficult to hide their embarrassment following the alleged sex scandal involving 33-year-old Prajwal Revanna, a Member of Parliament, and grandson of former Prime Minister, Deve Gowda. The Siddaramaiah government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.

Revanna has sought re-election from Hassan, on a JD-S ticket, voting for which was held on April 26, during the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The SIT probe was announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, following a letter that was addressed to the government on April 25 by Dr Nagalakshmi Chowdhary, chairperson of the Women’s Commission. Chowdhary also wrote to the state police chief, Alok Mohan, and sought a special probe into the allegations.

The development comes in the wake of explicit video clips that had been floating around in Hassan. According to a communication from the CM’s office, Revanna appears to have left the country. According to some, he is on a “seven-day European tour with his friends”.

His departure from the country has further embarrassed the Gowda family and the JDS-BJP combine. Prajwal, son of H. D. Revanna, an MLA, did reportedly lodge a complaint with the local authorities through his agent, claiming that “the videos are doctored and were being circulated to tarnish his image ahead of the elections”.

Meanwhile, state Home Minister, G. Parameshwara, said that while the government would not interfere with the probe, it is the“SIT’s responsibility to bring Prajwal back”.

Responding to queries, Prajwal’s uncle H. D. Kumaraswamy, former CM, and current JDS chief, said that he will wait for the facts to come out on the issue. “There was no question of forgiving anyone for committing a crime. But let the facts come out. I will respond post that,” Kumaraswamy said

Similarly, while distancing himself from the development, a guarded Kumaraswamy claimed that “if Prajwal has gone abroad, it is the responsibility of the SIT to bring him back.”

Arch rival of the Gowda family, D. K. Shivakumar, Deputy CM, however, did not mince words saying “we are hanging our heads in shame.I saw in the media that he has ‘escaped'. This is an unpardonable crime.”

The government order of an SIT probe further indicates that video recordings of the investigation will be made public. All the cases registered in different parts of the state in this connection, will also be transferred to the investigating agency.

Earlier, while announcing the probe, Siddaramaiah had claimed that “explicit video clips were being circulated in Hassan and prima facie, it appeared that women were sexually assaulted, forced”. In a related development, the Congress party’s women’s wing has staged protests against Prajwal .

Hassan, Mandya and Kolar are the three seats which the BJP had given to the JDS to contest from. Another member of the Gowda family, Dr C.Manjunath,a well known cardiologist, was fielded by the BJP from the Bengaluru Rural seat.

For the Right Wing party, the Hassan development remains a matter of concern. It fears that as the video clips were in circulation for a while, and could have had an adverse impact on all the 14 constituencies that went to the polls on April 26. The first phase of the polls was largely concentrated on the Vokkaliga belt, a caste on which the Gowda family exercises a major influence.

A section of the BJP, however, is wondering why the state and Central leadership of the party agreed to Prajwal’s candidature, as they had been warned about these videos much in advance. In addition to this news from Hassan is that a case of sexual harassment and stalking was registered on April 28 against Prajwal and his father, H. D. Revanna,

According to official information, the complaint against the Revanna duo was filed by their cook who is also related to Prajwal’s mother, Bhavani. According to the cook, she was sexually harassed by Revanna, while Prajwal used to have “vulgar conversations “ with her.

Amid uproar and anger over the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in the state recently campaigning for the next phase two of the polls scheduled for May 7, preferred to maintain a stony silence.

Predictably, this prompted a sharp reaction from state minister, Priyanka Kharge. He asked the PM to “tell the Kannadigas the truth about why you gave the Hassan Parliamentary ticket to a JDS candidate?... When will Bjp and the rest of you across India hit the streets and protest to get justice for the victims? When will Naddaji visit the victims' homes?”

In this context, it is worth remembering that former actress Sumalatha, who had won the Mandya seat in 2019 as an Independent candidate, had refrained from participating in any canvassing by the Gowda family during the first phase of the polls. Sumalatha, who joined the BJP recently, was keen to contest from Mandya again this time but the BJP prevailed on her to allow Kumaraswamy to do so, instead.

In fact, Deve Gowda had even complained that despite the alliance, the BJP leaders had refrained from participating in the joint campaign. This raised further doubts that the BJP leaders may have been aware of the videos in question and wanted to maintain their distance.

MCC Violation Case Against Tejasvi Surya

The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka has filed a case against BJP’s Bengaluru South candidate Tejasvi Surya,for alleged violation of the Moral Code of Conduct (MCC) during the first phase of polling in the state on April 26.

According to the official, the case against the MP was filed for posting a video on X,soliciting votes on the grounds of religion. Tejasvi Surya’s post featured the Ram Mandir celebrations at Ayodhya.

After voting on April 26, Surya told newsmen that the Congress party may not win more than 30 seats in the ensuing polls to the Lok Sabha. The Congress, he claimed, had “become frustrated according to available surveys”.

In another case from Mangalore, a man who had printed “Vote for Modi” on his wedding card ,was booked by the Dakshina Kannada police, charging him with violation of the Moral Code of Conduct.

Shivaprasad, who got married on April 18, in Golitottu, Kadaba taluk, had appealed to his friends and relatives that “the biggest gift” that they could give him and his wife on their wedding day was “to elect Modi as the PM again for a stronger India.”

On learning about the message that Shivaprasad had on his wedding card, state election officials visited his house to seek an explanation. Even though Shivaprasad explained that he had got the cards printed before the MCC came into force, the officials concerned filed a complaint against him with the local police. That too after polling was over on April 26.

The matter did not end here. The EC officials also filed a complaint with the police against the printer of the wedding cards, according to reports from Mangalore.

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