Amid mounting pressure, JD(S) suspends Revanna
The Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), on Tuesday suspended its Hassan Lok Sabha member Prajwal Revanna from the party over an alleged sex scandal, a decision that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally, welcomed.
Polling for 14 of Karnataka’s 28 seats, including Hassan, which Prajwal, grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, has again contested, took place on April 26. However, with the remainder of the 14 seats set for polling in the third phase of the General Elections on May 7, the pressure on the allies was mounting to take action against Prajwal. At least 10 of the 19 JD(S) legislators had demanded that Prajwal be expelled from the party.
Amid protests by Congress workers in Karnataka over the alleged sexual harassment by 33year-old Prajwal of several women, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress’ state government of “delayed” action. Police in Karnataka on
Sunday booked Prajwal and his father H D Revanna on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation based on a complaint from a woman who worked in their household. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Shah said: “The BJP’S stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’.” In the national capital, at a press conference, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said of the JD(S) suspending Prajwal, “We are glad ... The law will take its course.” He said the BJP “will push for the full might of law against the accused”. As a Karnataka BJP member later has claimed that he had conveyed to his party leadership the existence of the purported videos involving Prajwal, Chandrasekhar said the presence of a “video” itself was not a crime and claimed that the fact that women were coerced and exploited had come out only now.