Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna is likely to be expelled by his grandfather and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s party over explicit videos allegedly showing him sexually assaulting multiple women.
The Janata Dal (Secular), which is an alliance with the BJP in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, will likely decide on this at a core committee meeting of the party in Hubbali at 10 am. Prajwal has denied the allegations and claimed in a police complaint that the videos being circulated are doctored.
JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister and Prajwal’s uncle, said yesterday the party has already decided to suspend his nephew. “A decision was already made. Tomorrow it is to be recommended at the core committee meeting in Hubballi. Because he is a Member of Parliament, it has to be done from Delhi,” Mr Kumaraswamy claimed.
A case of sexual harassment and stalking was lodged against him on Sunday. The Karnataka government has also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which may visit Hassan – the constituency that Prajwal represents in Lok Sabha and is contesting again this time – today to probe the charges.
The videos began circulating a day after the Phase 2 voting last Friday, in which Hassan went to polls. On Saturday, he left for Germany, and a day later, he filed a police complaint claiming that the clips were “doctored” and were distributed to “tarnish his image and poison voters’ minds”.
His father HD Revanna, an MLA, too accused political rivals of creating a conspiracy out of “old videos”.
On reports of him leaving the country pending a probe, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said yesterday Prajwal will be asked to return to India by the SIT.
The Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Choudhary said that the pen drive she received had hundreds of explicit videos, some purportedly showing the sitting MP from Hassan.
The scandal has unleashed Opposition attacks on the JD(S)’s alliance with the BJP, with the Congress targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Kumaraswamy, however, has distanced the BJP and PM Modi from the case, saying their alliance partner has no link to the scandal.
The state BJP has distanced itself from the controversy and said it has no comments to make on the SIT probe. Besides the sex scandal, Prajwal and his father also face charges of sexually harassing their house help multiple times between 2019 and 2022.