'Railway minister's son case not an embarassment to party'

Calling allegations of rape, kidnap and cheating by a Kannada starlet against Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's son Karthik Gowda as purely a personal, Karnataka BJP President Prahlad Joshi today said the party has nothing to feel embarrassed about it.

"This case is between Karthik Gowda and a woman, the case is in the legal domain. There is nothing for the party to feel embarrassed about it," Joshi told reporters here.

He said, "In such cases, allegations and counter allegations will be on purely personal grounds. In this case it is on Sadananda Gowda's son. So there is no relationship between the party and the issue. There is no question for the party to feel embarrassed about it."

Joshi in response to a question also said that party President Amit Shah has not sought any report on the issue. In a relief for Karthik Gowda, declared absconding, a court here on Monday granted him anticipatory bail in the case, which has come as an embarrassment to Sadandanda Gowda. The actress had claimed she and Karthik got married at Gowda's residence in Mangalore in June in the presence of the driver of Gowda's son.

The starlet had made the claim about the marriage on the day Karthik got engaged to another woman at Kushalnagar in Kodagu district. On the havoc caused by floods in Jammu and Kashmir, Joshi said party will collect funds for victims from all district and taluk centres across the state on September 13. A ministerial team should be sent to Jammu and Kashmir to coordinate and rescue stranded tourists from the state, he added.

Former Chief Minister and leader of opposition in the assembly Jagadish Shettar objected to the appointment of ministers as heads of the House panels.

Recently Energy Minister D K Shivakumar was appointed as head of the panel to look into reported irregularities in power purchases causing financial loss to the state exchequer, while Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra was made head of the committee to probe the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project.

Speaking on the Arkavathi de-notification issue, Shettar accused government of trying to tamper with land records by divesting ownership from BDA while a judicial probe ordered by it is still pending. Reiterating the demand for CBI inquiry, Shettar said "...until any enquiry is done, status quo should be maintained."