With the Prajwal Revanna sexual abuse case taking new twists every day, JD(S) State president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday appealed to the Hassan MP, who is his nephew, to return and subject himself to the legal process. This is the first time that such an appeal has been made by the family.
Addressing presspersons a day after another audio clip — a purported conversation between — former MP L.R. Shivarame Gowda and BJP leader Devaraje Gowda — going viral, Mr. Kumaraswamy said: “If you have any respect for our family and to our elders (referring to his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda), I appeal to you through the media to return from whichever country you are in and cooperate with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the probe. There should be no fear. The law of this land will take its own course. How long can this hide-and-seek game be played? I appeal to you with folded hands to surrender within 24 to 48 hours.”
“I wanted to convey this through my father but am doing it on his behalf. He (Mr. Deve Gowda) has extended all his support for Mr. Prajwal Revanna to grow in politics. If Mr. Prajwal Revanna wants to bring any respect to his grandfather and party workers, he should come back to India,” Mr Kumaraswamy stated.
“I publicly apologise to the victims of this scandal. I can understand their pain. Who pushed them into this situation? Many similar cases have occurred in the past, although their magnitude might be less. This is a shameful episode and it makes all of us bow our heads in shame,” he said.
Pointing out that the Congress government was demanding that he bring Mr. Prajwal Revanna back to India, the former Chief Minister said: “When I was not aware about his whereabouts when he was in Karnataka, how will I know where he is when he is not in the country?”
Hitting back at the ruling party, he said: “Let the Congress make hundreds of attempts to target my family. My party workers have given me the strength to fight. This episode began the day before polling. If I had known about the scandal earlier, I would not have let Mr. Prajwal Revanna leave the country,” he said.
“In such cases, people tend to act based on their lawyers’ advice. We did not ask him to go. The SIT could have given him seven days to appear when he sought time,” he said.
“I requested my father (Mr. Deve Gowda) to make a public announcement that if he had any respect, Mr. Prajwal Revanna should come back and cooperate with SIT. People should not misunderstand our family,” Mr Kumaraswamy said.
‘HDD offered to quit RS’
Asserting that Mr. Deve Gowda was pained by this episode, the former Chief Minister said that his father wanted to resign as member of the Rajya Sabha.
“I stopped him from doing so. Why should he resign for a crime done by someone? All this is being done to target our family and destroy the JD(S),” he said.
Meanwhile, JD (S) workers staged a protest in Bengaluru against Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar and Mr. Shivarame Gowda.
