Predictably the Congress in Karnataka has begun raking up the Prajwal Revanna sentencing to target the BJP-JD(S) alliance, which is the opposition in the state.
In a hard-hitting reaction, senior Congress leader and state IT minister Priyank Kharge took the BJP-JD(S) alliance head-on and charged it with failing with its own much tom-tommed slogan “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao”.
Is the BJP not the alliance partner of the JD(S) and isn’t their relative (Revanna’s) a minister in the central government today? Kharge questioned and said that the BJP leaders were silent over the crime committed by Revanna. He told private television channels that what Prajwal Revanna did was wrong. But BJP does not say this, he said, trying to paint the BJP as a party that gives only lip service to women’s cause and makes empty slogans.
The silence of JD (S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda is deafening, he said, adding that he chose to remain silent on his conviction. But Gowda has recently issued a statement against US President Donald Trump remark on dead economy.
Political observers, however, doubt the Congress party’s efficacy and efficiency in raising the issue, unlike say, the BJP that went to town with the Delhi ‘Tandoor kand’ in which a youth Congress leader was accused and later convicted for killing and burning a girl.
Prof Sandeep Shastri – Political Analyst, VC Of Jain University
Prof Sandeep Shastri, political analyst and vice president, Nitte (Deemed to be University), told News24 that “the sentencing will not have any immediate political fallout, Whatever gains, the Congress could get from the issue, it managed to get in the Lok Sabha elections.”
Revanna, who was facing rape and sexual harassment charges at the time of Lok Sabha elections lost the Hassan Lok Sabha seat to the Congress candidate Shreyas M Patel.
Prof Shastri reasoned that public memory being short and also the fact that the Congress continues to fail to raise several issues in an effective manner, on this too it is highly doubtful if the Congress can pin the BJP and JD(S) down on this issue.
But at best, the conviction of Prajwal Revanna, will have an impact on the inner dynamics of the Janata Dal (S) ruling family and how it pans out within the family will be interesting to watch out.
BS Nagaraj- Political Analyst
Concurred another political analyst BS Nagaraj, who too said that whatever benefit the Congress has to get it got in Lok Sabha elections. “There will be no fresh adverse impact, as the court has only validated what the public believed to be true, that Prajwal had done something very wrong.”
It may be recalled that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for Revanna during the elections, but even that could not change public perception about him, and he lost the Lok Sabha seat he contested from Hassan.
