Bengaluru, 30 April

JD(S) on Tuesday suspended its Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna from the party with immediate effect over an alleged sex scandal involving him.

The suspension came minutes after the party core committee that met in Hubballi recommended his suspension to its national president and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who is also Revanna's grandfather. "Videos of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna allegedly harassing women are widely in circulation on social media and media and this has caused huge embarrassment to the party and its leadership," the suspension order said.

Stating that the Congress government in Karnataka has constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate this, it said, "In this backdrop, as per JD(S)' party constitution and rules regarding breach of discipline and punishment, Prajwal Revanna has been suspended with immediate effect."

The suspension order, signed by party General Secretary KR Shivakumar, was released to the media following approval from the JD(S) National President. Prajwal is the BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan, which went to the polls on Friday. The 33-year-old is the son of HD Deve Gowda's elder son HD Revanna, who is an MLA and a former minister. Prajwal's uncle HD Kumaraswamy is State President of JD(S).

Speaking to reporters in Hubballi after the core committee meeting, its Chief and MLA GT Devegowda said, "Regarding allegations on Prajwal Revanna, Karnataka government has constituted a SIT and they have started the investigation, we welcome it. As the investigation is on and the report is still awaited. We have decided not to interfere in the process and extend full cooperation to the investigation."

He had earlier said: "We have also made a unanimous resolution to suspend him (Prajwal) from the party, and have made a recommendation in this regard to our national President H D Deve Gowda. As he (Prajwal) is a Lok Sabha member our national president has to take action. We have asked him to immediately take action."

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days. The government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged sex scandal involving the MP.

The core committee meeting was attended by State JD(S) President H D Kumaraswamy and other members.

Kumaraswamy said, the decision is to suspend Prajwal, and the tenure of the suspension is based on the SIT probe report and government action on it. "We welcome the SIT probe. The suspension is until the SIT report on Prajwal's role. If it comes in the report that he is guilty, he will be permanently suspended," he added.