DK Shivakumar questions BJP-JD(S) leaders' silence on life sentence for Prajwal Revanna
Bengaluru, Aug 2 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday questioned the silence of leaders from JD(S) and its alliance partner BJP in connection with former party MP Prajwal Revanna being sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life, in a rape case.
A special court here on Friday convicted the 34-year-old grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against him.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi Shivakumar said, JD(S) leaders and their alliance partner BJP are competent to comment on the Prajwal Revanna issue, and questioned as to why they are not speaking.
"Let them comment. Let JD(S) state president (H D Kumaraswamy), national president (H D Deve Gowda), youth president (Nikhil Kumaraswamy), BJP president (B Y Vijayendra), opposition leader (R Ashoka) and central ministers, all of them should comment on this. Why are they not commenting? It is their bound duty to comment on this," he said.
"If we (Congress) speak on the issue, it will be seen as politics. We respect the law and abide by it. We want people to get justice," Shivakumar, who is also the Congress party's state chief, added.
The case in which Prajwal was sentenced pertains to a 48-year-old woman who was working as a domestic help at the family's Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district's Holenarasipura. She was allegedly raped twice -- at Hassan farm house and Bengaluru residence-- in 2021, and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phone.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Dharwad, BJP leader and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said the court would have given the verdict considering all aspects, and it should be respected.
"Everyone should accept the court order. We had said when the allegations came to light that, if the wrong was committed, punishment would happen in accordance with the law after investigation and trial. Now that the court has given its verdict, everyone should accept it. The future choices (regarding going on an appeal) are left for the concerned parties to decide," he said.
"Our society sees women with respect. The court, after considering all aspects, has given its verdict," he added.
Four separate cases have been registered against Revanna, who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment, and the SIT was tasked with probing the cases.
The cases came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls there on April 26, 2024.
Revanna was arrested by the SIT in connection with a case registered at the Holenarasipura Town Police Station, on May 31 last year, upon his arrival at Bengaluru Airport from Germany. He was escorted to the SIT office by women officers upon his arrest at the airport.
Revanna had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan parliamentary constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. JD(S) suspended him from the party following the cases filed against him.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
