Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday said he would not object to action against Prajwal Revanna, his fugitive grandson accused in a sex scandal that came as a big blow to his party Janata Dal Secular.

In his first reaction to the scandal involving his son H.D. Revanna and Prajwal, Gowda said there was a larger conspiracy involving many persons but he had no objection to action against his grandson who fled the country soon after the state government constituted a special investigation team to probe the cases.

He was talking to reporters after offering prayers at the Lakshmi Venkateshwara Temple in JP Nagar on his birthday. The 91-year-old leader had already barred his family and followers from celebrating his birthday owing to the scandal.

Hinting at a larger conspiracy behind nailing his son and Holenarasipura MLA Revanna, Gowda said: “The people know how they (the investigating agency) are handling the case against my son. He has already been granted bail in one case while the judgment is reserved for Monday in another bail application.”

Asked if he meant that the case against Revanna was to corner the family, Gowda responded in the affirmative. “The arrested BJP leader Devaraje Gowda has claimed many people are involved in this,” he added.

G. Devaraje Gowda, who lost to Revanna in Holenarasipura in the 2023 Assembly elections, had on Friday accused several Congress leaders including deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar of offering him ₹100 crore to drag the name of H.D. Kumaraswamy, former chief minister and the younger son of Deve Gowda, in the Prajwal case.

Devaraje had in December written to state BJP president Vijayendra Yediyurappa informing him of a pen drive containing 2,976 smut videos and pictures involving Prajwal. He had urged the party president not to give a ticket to Prajwal who eventually contested from Hassan for the second time.

A professional advocate, Devaraje was arrested on May 10 for allegedly leaking the contents of the pen drive.

Alluding to such allegations, Gowda called for stringent action against all those involved in the case and promised to address the media after June 4, the day of the election results.

“Action must be taken against everyone who is involved in this and the women (survivors) should be provided protection and compensation. I will speak to the media after June 4,” he added.

Political circles in the state were abuzz with talks about how the sex scandal had affected Gowda and his health, but he appeared confident on Saturday.