May 03, 2024 07:44 AM IST
JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna’s performance below national average, faces sexual harassment probe. Low attendance, questions asked, debates participated.
New Delhi/Bengaluru: The performance as an MP of Prajwal Revanna, the Janta Dal (Secular) representative from Hassan in Karnataka, who is being investigated by the state police for sexual harassment and molestation, captured in 2,972 clips allegedly leaked by his former driver, Karthik, is below the national average on parameters of attendance, questions asked and participation in debates.
The Karnataka police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into a complaint of sexual abuse against Revanna , grandson of former prime minister and JD (S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda, and his father, H D Revanna. Revanna left for Germany on April 27, hours before a case was registered against him. He is slated to return on May 16. The JD(S) and the BJP are allies in the ongoing election.
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According to data shared by the PRS legislative research, a non-government organisation that tracks performance of members of Parliament, Revanna’s Lok Sabha attendance was just 55% between 2019 and 2024 much below the national average 79% for the MPs attending their respective houses.
Revanna asked only 89 questions in five years, which means he asked fewer than 18 questions in a year. This translates into six questions in a session as the Lok Sabha meets three times a year for budget, monsoon and winter sessions, according to the PRS and Lok Sabha websites. The last question he asked was in February 2024, on why Karnataka does not have a All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), to which the health ministry replied that a proposal to have AIIMS in Hubli-Dharwad region has been received but not approved.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, Revanna has the dubious distinction of having asked least number of questions as compared to 27 other Lok Sabha members from Karnataka. The national average of the questions asked by MPs in 17th Lok Sabha was 210.
The only Janata Dal (S) candidate to win Lok Sabha election in 2019, and once considered the party’s emerging leader , Revanna participated in just two debates in Lok Sabha in five years.
The first one on 25 June 2019 was on the motion of thanks to President’s customary address to the first session of a new Lok Sabha. A year later in September 2020, he was among 30-odd speakers on the government resolution for withdrawing the three farmers bills.
Revanna did not introduce any private member bill or resolution in five years as against the national average of two for MPs. He also did not raise any special mention during zero hour, a platform for the MPs to raise issues of importance that may not get covered in discussion and debates that day.
In five years as MP,Revanna was also nominated to Parliamentary standing committees of water and commerce. However, the Lok Sabha website does not provide attendance details of committee meetings he attended.
Responding to the details, Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal said, “This is not surprising at all. Now we know what kept him busy. What a horrible legacy he leaves behind as an MP. This must be the only person in history to have assaulted so many women. How did he behave in Delhi? With his staff in Delhi? Also, the courts must stop giving injunctions to elected representatives for their videos. It just emboldens them further.”
The BJP spokesperson in Bengaluru refused comment saying it was JD(S)’ internal matter. JD(S) core committee chairman GT Devegowda didn’t respond to the calls made for a comment on the issue.
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