Prajwal Revanna is the BJP-led NDA’s candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency.
Rahul Gandhi has written to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemning Prajwal Revanna”s actions following the discovery of thousands of sexual assault videos allegedly involving him. Gandhi requested Siddaramaiah to extend all possible support to the sexual assault victims.
“I request you to kindly extend all possible support to the victims. We have a collective duty to ensure that all parties responsible for these heinous crimes are brought to book,” the Wayanad MP wrote.
“Many who looked up to him as a brother and son were brutalised in the most violent manner and robbed of their dignity. The rape of our mothers and sisters warrants the strictest possible punishment,” he said in the letter.
Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda and Hassan MP, is facing allegations of sexually abusing hundreds of women after pen drives containing explicit video clips started making the rounds recently.
Rahul Gandhi expressed shock at Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning for the Hassan MP despite the gruesome allegations being brought to the notice of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in December 2023.
“I am deeply shocked to learn that as far back as December 2023, our Home Minister Amit Shah was informed by G Devaraje Gowda about Prajwal Revanna”s antecedants, especially his history of sexual violence and the presence of videos filmed by the prepatrator. What is even more shocking is that despite these gruesome allegations being brought to the notice of the senior-most BJP leadership, the Prime Minister campaigned and canvassed for a mass rapist,” Gandhi wrote.
Revanna is the BJP-led NDA’s candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency where polling was held on April 26. JDS officially joined the NDA in September 2023.
In an apparent attack on PM Modi, the former Congress chief said he has never come across a senior public representative who has constantly chosen silence in the face of untold violence against women.
“In my two decades in public life, I have never come across a senior public representative who has constantly chosen silence in the face of untold violence against women. From our wrestlers in Haryana to our sisters in Manipur, Indian women are bearing the brunt of the Prime Minister”s tacit support for such criminals,” Gandhi alleged.
Describing the incidents as “horrific sexual violence”, he said the Hassan MP enjoyed immunity with the blessings of PM Modi and Amit Shah.
“Furthermore, the Union government wilfully allowed him to flee India to derail any meaningful investigation. The deeply perverse nature of these crimes and the absolute immunity enjoyed by Prajwal Revanna with the blessings of the Prime Minister and Home Minister deserves the strongest condemnation,” the Congress MP said.
On May 2, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Revanna flew to Germany on a diplomatic passport and he did not seek political clearance for the trip. The JDS leader, who was eventually suspended by the party, is said to have fled on April 27, a day after voting for the Lok Sabha elections took place in his constituency.
The Karnataka government has constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Additional Director General of Police BK Singh to probe the allegations against the 33-year-old MP.
“I understand that the Karnataka government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the grave allegations, and a request has been made to the Prime Minister to cancel Prajwal Revanna”s diplomatic passport and get him extradited to India at the earliest,” Gandhi added.
