Newsmaker | Prajwal Revanna’s mother in the spotlight: Who is Bhavani Revanna, the real power centre in the family?

One of the lasting impressions in public memory of Bhavani Revanna is her angry reaction — captured in a video that went viral — after her luxury car was involved in a road accident near Saligrama in Mysuru in December 2023. Bhavani, 55, is the mother of former Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Hassan Prajwal Revanna who stands accused of rape.

After a motorcyclist rammed into her car, Bhavani Revanna stepped out to rant at him for the damage he had caused to the vehicle, without pausing to inquire about the welfare of two villagers on the bike who were injured in the accident. “Burn that motorcycle,” she raged as the injured villagers parked the motorcycle on the roadside.

The car was later found to have been registered with a private construction firm in Bengaluru called Ashpra Infra Engineers run by businessman Kiran Reddy who has business ties with the family of Bhavani Revanna and her husband H D Revanna, the JD(S) MLA from Holenarasipura in Hassan and a former state minister.

In Hassan and its surrounding areas, the diktat of the Revanna family has held sway for more than two decades. While the pro-farmer and socialist political legacy of Revanna’s father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda gave them a political foothold in the family borough of Hassan, the Revannas have been calling all the shots there in recent years.

Though Revanna, 66, a six-time MLA, has been the political face of the family in Hassan — since becoming an MLA for the first time from Holenarasipura in 1994 — Bhavani is widely considered the real boss in the family. The politically ambitious Bhavani has nurtured hopes of becoming an MLA herself, and positioned herself for a JD(S) ticket on more than one occasion, ever since her sister-in-law Anitha