Amid the 'obscene videos' scandal involving Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna, a letter written by a Karnataka BJP leader has emerged, in which he told the state's party president that he was in possession of a pen drive containing nearly 3,000 videos of women performing sex acts. He said the footage, which was allegedly used by Revanna to blackmail the women, could prove to be a "major blow" to the BJP-JD(S) alliance in the state.
In his letter to the BJP's state president BY Vijayendra dated December 8, 2023, Devaraje Gowda, who was the party's Holenarsipura candidate for the 2023 Assembly elections, said “there are grave allegations against several leaders of the HD Deve Gowda family, including Prajwal Revanna, the NDA candidate of the JD(S), the party that we are in alliance with”.
Devaraje Gowda said that the pen drive contained a total of 2,976 videos and some of the women featured in the footage were government officials.
The videos "were then being used to blackmail them into continuing to engage in sexual activities".
The BJP leader further claimed that another pen drive containing these videos, as well as photos, had reached national leaders of the Congress.
“If we align with the JD(S) and if we nominate a JD(S) candidate in Hassan for the Lok Sabha elections, these videos can be used as a 'Brahmastra' (destructive weapon), and we will be tainted as a party that aligned with the family of a rapist. This will be a big blow to the image of our party nationally,” Devaraje Gowda stated in his letter.
The JD(S) joined the NDA in September 2023.
This latest development comes as Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, is embroiled in the scandal, that started after some explicit videos went viral on social media just two days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 26.
Seeking a second term, the 33-year-old JD(S) MP was the NDA candidate in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26.
On Sunday, JD(S) MLA Sharanagouda Kandkur wrote to party chief HD Deve Gowda appealing for the expulsion of Prajwal Revanna as the case had caused embarrassment to the party.
"In the past few days, videos showing sexual acts are being circulated statewide, which has caused a huge embarrassment for the party. It looks like it is Prajwal Revanna as he was seen there in some parts of the video. At the outset, it looks like he is the accused. Hence, I request you to immediately expel him from the party," Kandkur added.
As per sources, Revanna reportedly left for Frankfurt on Sunday from Bengaluru.
The video scandal has further intensified after a 47-year-old woman, who worked as a house help at Prajwal Revanna's home, accused both him and his father Holenarasipur MLA HD Revanna of sexual harassment.
Based on the woman's complaint, the police have registered a case under IPC Sections 354A, 354D, 506, and 509.
"After four months of joining, Revanna kept calling me to his room. There were six women workers in the house and everyone said that they were scared when Prajwal Revanna came home. The male workers in the house also alerted the women workers to be careful," the complainant said.
"Whenever (HD) Revanna's wife wasn’t there, he used to call the women to the store room and touch them while giving them fruits. He used to remove saree pins and used to sexually assault women," she added.
The woman also claimed that Prajwal Revanna tried to flirt with her daughter, who then blocked his number.
In the wake of the scandal, Karnataka's Congress-led government has constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the case.
On Monday, Congress leader Pawan Khera tweeted Devaraje Gowda's letter and said, despite the complaint, why did the BJP "still go ahead with the alliance" with the JD(S).
He also raised queries on why Prime Minister Narendra was silent on the scandal.
Speaking to the ANI news agency on Monday, state Minister Priyank Kharge said, "Despite knowing the fact that the Hassan MP was known for such antecedents, despite letters being received by them from BJP functionaries, from BJP office bearers, that there are thousands of victims who have been abused by the Hassan MP. Still, they went in and gave the ticket."
Also reacting to the scandal, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted on Monday that Prajwal Revanna's "candidature needs to be cancelled and elections be held afresh for his constituency".
"He needs to be brought back from Germany to face law. That will be part of the justice for these women," she added.
In a separate tweet on Sunday night, Chaturvedi said she was "shocked with the silence" of National Commission for Women's chairperson Rekha Sharma, and Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Amit Shah "regarding MP Prajwal Revanna’s clips of having sexually expolited several women and having made their video".
"I will not even want to go into his family network but as a sitting MP and an ally of BJP why have they not broken ties yet," she queried
