"Won't Protect Him": HD Kumaraswamy, Uncle Of Karnataka MP In Video Scandal

Prajwal Revanna, the Janata Dal (Secular) MP who has been suspended from the party and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, faces the risk of being forsaken by his uncle HD Kumaraswamy after purported obscene videos - hundreds of them - of Prajwal Revanna went viral.

In an interview to NDTV, Mr Kumaraswamy said he will not protect anyone, including Prajwal Revanna, if found guilty.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister, however, distanced himself from the scandal on the grounds that it was Prajwal Revanna's "personal matter" which the Congress is using to malign the entire family.

Yet, in a bizarre turn, Mr Kumaraswamy directed questions on who released the video.

"Who is the culprit? Who released the video? Who are the persons behind it? Are they saviours of women? Don't worry, we will take action," he told reporters when confronted with questions on a huge number of extremely obscene videos in circulation.

He quickly amended, "Not only as an uncle, but as a citizenship, a common man, we have to move further. This is a shameful issue. I am not protecting any person. We have protested."

He declined to comment whether Prajwal Revanna would be suspended from the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), which is an ally of the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. Prajwal Revanna is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from Hassan.

"Who is running the government? The government must take the responsibility to investigate and come out with the real picture. That has to be exposed by the government, not by me," Mr Kumaraswamy said.

Mr Kumaraswamy alleged the video scandal is meant to "malign our family".

"This issue they will not take any decision I know. These people have done several times like this. Their only intention is to malign our family... finish the JD(S) and destroy the alliance between JD(S) and BJP," he said.

Prajwal Revanna has denied the allegations and filed a police complaint too, saying the obscene videos in circulation were morphed. He left for Germany on Saturday morning after voting in the Lok Sabha elections.

A woman has also filed a police case against him and his father, HD Revanna, over alleged sexual assault.