New Delhi:

Karnataka lawmaker Prajwal Revanna – who fled to Germany last month, shortly after horrific sex crimes allegations by women who said he forced them into sexual acts – released a statement Monday, claiming comments and “political drama” by opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, “drove me to depression and I was pushed into isolation”. 

“I apologise to my parents… I was in depression. I will come (back to India) and appear before the SIT (a special investigative team set up by the state government) on May 31 (Friday),” Revanna said.

“I will cooperate to the best of my abilities and provide all answers. I have full faith in the legal system (and) I will come out of these false cases against me. I have the blessings of God and my family…”

On May 1, four days after he fled the country, Revanna posted a message on X. He said, “I am not in Bengaluru… I have communicated (to the police) through my lawyer. The truth will prevail soon.”

Revanna is a Janata Dal (Secular) leader and the grandson of party patriarch and ex-Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and nephew of senior leader and ex-Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

He is also the sitting MP from Karnataka’s Hassan Lok Sabha seat, which he has been nominated to defend in the 2024 general election. The JDS is allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

Revanna’s message – his first public comment on charges against him – comes after a warning from Deve Gowda, who told his grandson to return home and surrender “or face your family’s anger”.

READ | “Surrender Or Face My Anger”: Deve Gowda To Grandson Revanna

Deve Gowda said he had warned Revanna to “not test my patience” and that it took him time to recover from the “shock and pain”. The former Prime Minister – targeted by the ruling Congress, former allies turned political rivals, over claims it was he sent Revanna abroad – stressed he had called for “the harshest punishment under the law” for his grandson “if (he is) found guilty…”

I have issued a warning to @iPrajwalRevanna to return immediately from wherever he is and subject himself to the legal process. He should not test my patience any further. pic.twitter.com/kCMuNJOvAo

— H D Deve Gowda (@H_D_Devegowda) May 23, 2024

Revanna’s uncle, HD Kumaraswamy, has also made an appeal.

READ | “If You Have Respect…”: HD Kumaraswamy’s Appeal To Revanna

The ex-Chief Minister last week also appealed to his nephew. “I have openly appealed to him… told him, ‘if you have respect for the party and Deve Gowda, come back…’ Cooperate with the probe. If you have not done anything prove it. If you have, then face the punishment,” Revanna was told.

READ | Deve Gowda Sent Grandson Abroad: Siddaramaiah On Ex-PM’s Letter

Revanna’s return home may be complicated by the fact the Ministry of External Affairs is set to cancel his diplomatic passport. A request to this effect has been made by the state government.

The centre is in the process of cancelling the travel document, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. Mr Jaishankar also took the chance for a jibe against Karnataka’s ruling Congress, declaring the request to cancel the passport was made only on May 21, several days after the scandal broke.

NDTV Analysis | Systemic Failure In Not Forcing Revanna To Face Law

The Congress and the BJP have attacked each other over the Revanna case.

The former has pointed to the alliance between the BJP and the JDS to claim Prajwal Revanna is being shielded, while the latter has criticised the state government for delayed reactions.

Prajwal Revanna – who faces an arrest warrant from a MP/MLA court – has denied all charges.

Bengaluru:

Janata Dal (Secular) lawmaker Sharangouda Kandkur has demanded the suspension of party MP Prajwal Revanna amid a row over explicit videos – allegedly showing the Hassan MP sexually assaulting multiple women – that began circulating a day after voting in his constituency. 

In a two-page letter made public Monday morning, Mr Kandkur told party patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda the JDS had been left “embarrassed by the circulating videos, and it damages the reputation of both you and your party.”

Mr Revanna – who is Mr Deve Gowda’s nephew – is not currently in India. He left for Germany Saturday morning, shortly after the videos emerged online. On Sunday he filed a police complaint claiming the clips – there are reportedly thousands – were doctored. The videos, he claimed, were being distributed to “tarnish his image and poison voters’ minds”. 

This was a day after the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a special team had been set up to investigate the case.

READ | Siddaramaiah Sets Up Team To Probe Sex Scandal Involving JDS MP

The JDS, which has allied with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sha election, has refused to comment pending a complete inquiry. 

However, senior party leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy – who is Mr Deve Gowda’s son – said there could be no question of forgiving anyone who had committed a crime.

READ | “Let Facts Come Out”: HD Kumaraswamy On Nephew’s Sex Scandal

He also said the party had nothing to do with Mr Revanna apparently fleeing the country. “If he has gone to a foreign country getting him back is their (the special investigative team) responsibility. What should I say… SIT will get him, don’t worry.”

The scandal broke last week after a woman filed a police case against Mr Revanna, accusing him of sexual assault. The case was filed at a police station in his constituency.

She alleged she had been sexually abused multiple times between 2019 and 2022. The clips circulating show more women and they are likely to come forward to file cases too.

The row has also snowballed into a political squabble between the JDS and the BJP, with some of the national party’s leaders distancing themselves from the state party and calling for a rethink. S Prakash, the BJP state unit’s chief spokesperson, said, “We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make…”

The ruling Congress, meanwhile, has also gotten involved, after reports some BJP leaders had told their party’s state boss, BY Vijayendra, of the clips back in December. They have questioned their rival’s decision to field Mr Revanna despite knowledge of the videos.

Fourteen of Karnataka’s 28 Lok Sabha seats, including Hassan, voted in the second phase last week. The remaining 14 are due to vote in the third phase on May 7, but the JDS is not contesting any of these seats. As per the seat-share agreement, the party – which broke from the Congress to join the BJP in October – fought only three in south Karnataka.

Bengaluru:

With the clock ticking for Lok Sabha election, the BJP has sealed the seat-sharing deal with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka. The HD Deve Gowda-led party, it is learnt, has managed to secure three seats as part of the seat-sharing arrangement.

The JDS will be contesting Karnataka’s Mandya, Hassan and Kolar seats, sources have said. Also, in Bengaluru rural, Mr Deve Gowda’s CN Manjunath, will contest on the BJP’s lotus symbol.

The announcement comes days after JDS leaders expressed their concerns to the party leadership after the BJP announced candidates for 20 out of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats.

In their meeting with former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and his son and senior JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, the leaders said that the BJP leaders were not taking them into confidence in their planning for the upcoming election.

BJP leaders, they said, were not calling them to any meeting and that this was harmful for the party.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP had won 25 out of the state’s 28 seats, with the Congress and the JDS winning one each. Currently, the Congress is in power in the southern state after its thumping state polls win last year.

Out of the three seats the JDS has secured, Kolar is currently held by the BJP, Hassan by the JDS and Mandya by an Independent.

The seat-sharing talks between the JDS and BJP, it is learnt, had hit an impasse over the Kolar seat. The ruling Congress had taken a swipe, with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar saying that the JDS is “embarrassed by its alliance with BJP” and that the regional party does not need an alliance to contest two seats.

Bengaluru:

A case has been registered against D Kupendra Reddy, the Janata Dal (Secular) leader contesting the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka, and his aides at the Vidhana Soudha police station in Bengaluru, former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too confirmed that an FIR has been registered for “threatening” the Congress MLAs in connection with the Rajya Sabha elections.

“The Congress leaders not only spoke about allurement and threat to MLAs time and again but also registered an FIR against Kupendra Reddy and his aides,” Mr Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

The JDS leader said the complainant MLA did not say that he was lured, but that some other MLAs were “approached”.

“Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah of Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha too had said that it’s true that his vote was sought but no one had lured him,” the JDS state chief claimed.

Mr Kumaraswamy also said the BJP and JDS had decided that the votes of 19 JDS MLAs and the additional BJP votes after its first preferential votes would go to Kupendra Reddy.

Mr Siddaramaiah slammed the Janata Dal (Secular) for allegedly trying to lure Congress legislators to get its candidate Kupendra Reddy elected.

“JDS needs 45 votes (for their candidate) to win. Do they have that many votes? Even though they don’t have enough votes, they still fielded the candidate and are luring our MLAs. Do they have a conscience?” the chief minister asked in a post on social media platform X.

“An FIR has been lodged regarding the threat to us. Our three candidates will win. There is no doubt about this,” Mr Siddaramaiah insisted, without elaborating who the FIR is against and where it has been registered.

Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha here, the chief minister slammed the minor partner in the opposition alliance, saying, “When JDS does not have ‘atma’ (soul), how can it have ‘atma sakshi’ (conscience)? They call themselves Janata Dal (Secular) but whom did they join with?”

He was referring to the JDS forming an alliance with the BJP.

The chief minister did not rule out the possibility of gaining votes from the rival camp saying the good works of his government may draw votes from the other side.

On the JDS allegations that the Congress had approached its party MLAs, Mr Siddaramaiah said when the Congress has a sufficient number of MLAs, there is no need to lure legislators from the opposition.

Voting is underway for four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka. The ruling Congress has fielded former union minister and Congress treasurer Ajay Maken and sitting Rajya Sabha members GC Chandrashekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain.

The BJP has fielded Narayansa Bhandage and also JD(S) leader Kupendra Reddy as the NDA candidate.

The Congress has 133 MLAs, excluding the Speaker, while the BJP and JD(S) have 66 and 19 legislators respectively, in the 223-member House. Others account for four. A Congress MLA died on Sunday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)