Pune:

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at present claimed that the Congress authorities in Karnataka didn’t take motion towards JDS chief Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually abusing ladies, for a few 12 months regardless of being conscious of the matter.

The Congress was afraid it’d lose the Vokkaliga votes and stayed silent till the primary section of the Lok Sabha elections was over, she mentioned at a gathering with choose journalists in Pune.

“The Union Dwelling Minister made it very clear that we’ll not tolerate the issues that go towards ladies and we stand united on that. Although the alliance associate has this subject, we have now made it clear that it was unacceptable, and let or not it’s investigated,” Ms Sitharaman mentioned when requested if the scandal would impression her get together’s efficiency in Karnataka within the ongoing elections.

A driver reportedly gave a pen drive allegedly containing proof of Revanna’s acts to Congress and the Karnataka Dwelling Minister. However they sat on this proof for a few 12 months, she mentioned, including that “now the BJP is made to reply as a result of the JDS is in alliance with us.”

The ministers of the state knew what was within the pen drive however didn’t assume that girls’s security must be their precedence, Ms Sitharaman alleged.

“They thought the Vokkaliga votes would possibly go from their arms and determined to stay silent till the primary section of Lok Sabha acquired over. Now they’re making it a giant subject and pushing it which is typical of Congress and reveals their hypocrisy,” the BJP chief additional mentioned, asking why a probe was delayed for one 12 months.

The Karnataka authorities is now writing to the PM in regards to the case, asking him to subject look-out notices towards Prajwal Revanna and convey him again from overseas. However the Union Dwelling Minister had clearly mentioned that the Karnataka authorities can take all of the motion it desires, she mentioned.

Requested about BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son Karan Singh getting a BJP ticket from UP’s Kaiserganj constituency, Ms Sitharaman mentioned the allegations towards the MP had not been confirmed but.

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is accused of sexually harassing ladies wrestlers.

“Nothing is confirmed towards Brij Bhushan… even when he’s convicted, I might say you do not wish to carry the blame to the son. So many events have entertained the youngsters of convicts,” she mentioned.

The BJP was nonetheless assured after two phases of the Lok Sabha elections of successful 370 seats by itself and 400 seats together with its NDA allies, she mentioned.

Requested if the BJP was in a defence mode and responding to the Opposition’s narrative as a substitute of setting its personal, Ms Sitharaman mentioned this was not the case.

“Our response to the Congress’ manifesto is just not defensive, neither is it adverse. Reasonably it’s extra offensive and substantive,” she mentioned, including that the manifesto was extra of a Muslim League doc.

Later, in an interplay with college students at an occasion on the metropolis’s Deccan School, Nirmala Sitharaman talked in regards to the Rohith Vemula case the place the Telangana police filed a closure report earlier than an area court docket stating that the Hyderabad College pupil was not a Dalit, and died by suicide in 2016 as he feared that his “actual caste” can be found.

The difficulty was dragged to the streets with out permitting the college to deal with it with sensitivity, the Union Minister mentioned.

“It was an unlucky incident. It was dragged to the streets and a story was constructed that the federal government was suppressing (details) and was towards college students and SCs. Immediately, the identical individuals who dragged the household of Rohit Vemula onto the road, ought to arise earlier than the complete nation and apologise for politicising it,” she mentioned.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)