'Phones of my family and supporters being tapped,' HD Kumaraswamy alleges; govt denies it
Bengaluru, May 20: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy on Monday alleged that 40 phones including his own and those of his family members and supporters are being tapped.
Even as he made an appeal to his nephew and Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna to come back to the country, Kumaraswamy accused the government of spying on himself and his family.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara dismissed the allegation as baseless and a means to gain publicity.
“Our phones are being tapped. I know it. Forty phones of people around me are being tapped. Whatever discussions are happening on phone are being monitored. H D Revanna’s phone is also being tapped,” Kumaraswamy alleged.
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Revanna is Kumaraswamy’s brother who was released on bail in kidnapping and sexual assault cases.
The JD(S) 'first family' is in trouble after a huge cache of explicit videos showing many women being sexually assaulted and filmed allegedly by Prajwal became public.
Prajwal, grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and son of Revanna, is hiding in a foreign country as the Karnataka government formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case.
The 33-year-old JD(S) leader is the NDA’s Lok Sabha candidate from Hassan, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by a court. Interpol has also issued a Blue Corner Notice seeking information on his whereabouts.
Kumaraswamy appealed publicly to his nephew to return to India and cooperate with the investigation.
“Come back to India and cooperate with the investigation. How long this ‘police and thief’ game will go on? Your grandfather always wanted you to grow politically. If you want to honour his reputation, then come back to India,” he said.
He added that he has asked his brother Revanna to help bring back his son.
Kumaraswamy, who is the JD(S) state president, claimed that if he knew beforehand about the explicit videos and sexual assault cases, he would not have allowed him to flee the country.
He also apologised to the victims of the sexual assault case.
“I once again publicly apologise to my mothers and sisters who are passing through painful mental agony. I understand their sufferings,” the JD(S) second-in-command said.
“I would like to say that many such cases have happened. The intensity of such cases may be high or low. It is such a case which is unacceptable and makes us hang our heads in shame,” he noted.
Accusing DCM Shivakumar of being the "architect" ("sutradhari") of distribution of thousands of pen drives carrying the sexual assault videos, Kumaraswamy said, “You (Shivakumar) are the lead person for distributing those pen drives. Case should be filed against Shivakumar and Shivarame Gowda.”
The JD(S) leader was referring to an audio going viral in which senior Congress leader L R Shivarame Gowda is purportedly heard telling BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda to distribute pen drives containing the explicit videos.
“Distribute the pen drive and put the blame on Kumaraswamy, creating an impression that he wanted to promote his son (Nikhil Kumaraswamy),” Shivarame Gowda has purportedly said in the audio.
He further allegedly "advised" Devaraje Gowda not to underestimate the JD(S) first family, including former PM Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and other members of his family.
“The government is committed to ruin their (Deve Gowda and his family) lives. I am surprised why Deve Gowda has not died by suicide yet,” Shivarame Gowda is allegedly heard telling Devaraje Gowda in the audio clip.
In response, Devaraje Gowda allegedly told him that sharing these videos would badly affect the lives of many women. To this, Shivarame Gowda allegedly replied that there was no need to bother about it.
The JD(S) took to social media saying that the audio makes clear the intention of the Congress to finish Deve Gowda’s family.
Dismissing the accusation of phone tapping, Shivakumar, who is also Congress Karnataka unit president, said Kumaraswamy and Revanna were not terrorists to warrant such action.
Speaking to reporters at his residence, he said, "Government taps phones of terrorists with due processes. There is no need to tap the phones of political leaders in the state. They are casting these aspersions for publicity."
He also said he has nothing to do with the "pen drive case".
Home Minister Parameshwara too rejected the charge of phonetapping.
"I deny it totally. If he has any proof that his phone is being tapped by so and so... (he should bring it forward)," he told reporters in Hubballi.
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Lok Sabha extends tenure of parliamentary panel on Waqf bill
New Delhi (PTI): The Lok Sabha on Thursday adopted a resolution to extend the tenure of the Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill till the last day of the Budget session of Parliament next year.
Committee Chairman and BJP leader Jagdambika Pal moved the resolution in the Lok Sabha, which approved it with a voice vote.
The parliamentary panel’s meetings have become a virtual battleground between the opposition and the ruling party members, who have been vociferously debating the changes to the Waqf Bill proposed by the government.
On Wednesday, the opposition members of the committee staged a walkout and slammed Pal for asserting that the panel's draft report was ready.
Pal and the BJP members of the committee then reached out to opposition members and indicated their willingness to press for an extension of the committee's deadline of November 29 to submit its report to the Lok Sabha.
The Lok Sabha had constituted the committee on August 8 and asked to submit its report on the last day of the first week of the Winter session, which is on Friday.
Following the last meeting of the committee on November 21, Pal had said its draft report is ready. He indicated that the committee's consultation with stakeholders is over and its members will now discuss the report and suggest changes, if any, before it is adopted.
The opposition members took strong exception to this stand in Wednesday's meeting and soon stormed out. They claimed that Birla had assured them that its tenure would be extended.
Opposition parties have stridently criticised the amendments proposed by the bill in the existing Waqf Act, alleging they violate the religious rights of Muslims.
The ruling BJP has asserted that the amendments will bring transparency in the functioning of the waqf boards and make them accountable.
