Janardhana Reddy's daughter's wedding invite puts Bollywood to shame

Bagalkot, Apr 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress of planning religion-based reservation in the country for the sake of vote bank politics but asserted that he will not let it happen.

He said this Congress proposal is to appease minorities as the SC/ST and OBC community is now with the BJP.

"In Karnataka, Congress has started a campaign to change the Constitution and to snatch away the rights of SC/ST and OBCs. Our Constitution does not accept religion-based reservation. But the Karnataka government has given part of OBC reservation to Muslims," Modi said.

Addressing a mega election rally in this district headquarters town, he said, "They (Congress) will not settle with this. They had earlier too in their manifesto said about coming out with a law to provide religion-based reservation. There is a similar signal in their manifesto this time."

"I want to make my Dalit, SC/ST and OBC brothers and sisters aware about Congress' intentions. These people on the basis of religion, to keep their vote bank safe, are planning to loot your right which was given by Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constitution," he added.

Veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, BJP candidates and MPs from Bagalkot (Bagalkot) and Vijayapura (Bijapur) - P C Gaddigoudar and Ramesh Jigajinagi, respectively - were among those present at the rally.

Noting that most of SC, ST and OBC MPs in the Parliament are from BJP, Modi said, "So they feel that as SC, ST and OBC are with BJP. To gain the trust of minorities, they want to loot from SC, ST and OBC and give it to minorities. Will you let this happen?"

"I want to guarantee today to my Dalit, Adivasi and OBC brothers and sisters. I will not let such intentions of Congress be successful. To protect your rights, your reservation, Modi will go to any extent. I'm assuring you this," he added.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Monday responded to Karnataka’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) regarding a blue corner notice issued against JDS MP Prajwal Revanna.

In its response, Interpol said that all 196 member countries were alerted to identify and report if Prajwal Revanna is spotted at any port in their jurisdiction.

The Karnataka government issued a Blue Corner Notice on Sunday against Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse by his staff members.

A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, location or activities about a crime.

The notice was issued after the 33-year-old Hassan MP reportedly flew to Germany soon after the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to the CM to order a probe into the sexual allegations against Prajwal.

Last week, the anticipatory bail application of Prajwal Revanna was also denied by Justice Santosh Gajanana Bhat’s bench of People’s Representative Court in Bengaluru.

Earlier, his MLA father and son of former Prime Minster HD Deve Gowda, HD Revanna was remanded to Karnataka SIT custody in a kidnapping-related sex scandal case.

His arrest came after the kidnapped victim was rescued from Revanna’s close assistant Rajasekhar’s farmhouse in Kalenahalli, Hunsur Taluk after the SIT conducted the rescue operation to find her, the police said.

The abduction case was filed by the son of a woman who worked at the Revannas’ house for nearly five years. He alleged that his mother was kidnapped from her home on April 29 by Satish Babanna a relative of Revanna.

The Karnataka Sex Scandal case pertains to explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, which went viral on social media.

Those videos began to make rounds in Hassan in recent days, following which the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP.

Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday, April 29, shared a letter purportedly written by BJP leader Devaraj Gowda to the Karnataka state president of the saffron party expressing concern about the pendrive containing sleazy videos of JD(S) leader and Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna.

The letter was apparently written on December 8, 2023.

The letter, written in Kannada by the Hassan BJP leader states that 2,976 clips were already with Congress leaders and would be ammo for the grand old party during the Lok Sabha elections. The letter also states that if Revanna is allowed to contest under the NDA banner, it is likely to negatively impact the BJP's image in the state.

Sharing this letter, Khera launched an attack on the BJP, asking why the party had chosen to enter into an alliance with JD(S) despite knowing about the pendrive. He also questioned the lack of action, sharing the stage with Prajwal Revanna, and asked who helped him 'escape to Germany'.

Khera also questioned PM Narendra Modi's silence on the matter. Notably, the PM has been vocal about women suffering sexual abuse elsewhere in the country, when a leader of the opposition party has been involved. Modi attacked the TMC government over Sheikh Shahjahan's actions in Sandeshkhali, which allegedly involve sexual harassment and illegal land grabbing.

The Congress leader, however, remained confident that Modi would stay mum on the Hassan sex scandal issue.

"Modi ji will be in Karnataka the entire day today. I can guarantee that he won’t find the courage to utter even a single word on this horrific case in the state wherein his alliance’s politician went around recording thousands of sex videos of several women in his pen drive, and has now absconded abroad!," Khera said on X (formerly Twitter).

While Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has ordered a special probe into the incident, the JD(S) has distanced itself from Prajwal with H D Kumaraswamy saying that while he wanted to wait for facts to come out after the probe, there was no question of forgiving someone who had committed a crime as per the law.

A sexual harassment and stalking case has been filed against former Karnataka Minister H D Revanna and his son Prajwal, who is at the centre of the Hassan scandal.

A woman complainant said that she worked in Revanna's house from 2019 for three and a half years. During her time there, Revenna allegedly misbehaved with her, as did Prajwal, according to the woman's claims. She also claimed Prajwal sexually assaulted her repeatedly.

She also claimed the MP had used obscene language with her daughter during video calls, forcing her to block the number and quit her job.

H D Revanna is the elder son of JD(S) supremo and former PM H D Deve Gowda, and Prajwal is the party patriarch's grandson.