BENGALURU : The BJP on Sunday distanced itself from sitting Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, Prajwal Revanna, amid the controversy around his purported sleaze tapes.
While the BJP is contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the state in alliance with the JD(S), Revanna is seeking a fresh term in the Lower House from Hassan and is pitted against the Congress’ Shreyas Patel.
Weighing in on the row over the alleged sleaze tapes, a day after the Congress government announced the formation of an SIT to probe the matter, S Prakash, the chief spokesperson of BJP’s state unit, said, “We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make on the SIT probe announced by the state government into the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna.”
Dr Narendra Rangappa, another spokesperson for the BJP’s state unit, simply said, “No comments”, when asked for his take on the purported sleaze videos allegedly involving the JD(S) legislator.
According to sources in the BJP, the party has chosen not to react officially to the alleged sleaze tape case as several of its senior leaders in the state are tight-lipped in the matter.
A BJP leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the party has nothing to do with the alleged sex tape and will not react at this time, as it has chosen to keep its distance from a matter that has come as an ’embarrassment’ for the sitting NDA MP from Hassan.
Earlier, on Saturday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah informed that his government has decided to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the sleaze tapes allegedly involving Revanna.
“The government has decided to form a special investigation team in connection with Prajwal Revanna’s obscene video case. Obscene video clips are circulating in Hassan district, where it appears that women have been sexually assaulted,” CM Siddaramaiah posted from his X handle on Saturday.
He added that the decision to conduct an SIT probe was taken in response to a request from the State Women’s Commission.
Earlier, on April 25, the chairperson of the state women’s panel requested CM Siddaramaiah to order an SIT probe into the obscene clips, allegedly involving the JD(S) MP, circulating on social media. (ANI)
