Congress seeks investigation in ‘Yeddy diaries’ report alleging bribes paid to BJP senior leaders 

BS Yeddyurappa.

New Delhi: The Congress, on Friday, sought an investigation by an anti-corruption authority Lokpal into a report by the Carvan alleging that former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa paid bribes of Rs 1800 crore to the Bhartiya Janata Party’s top brass.

The report claimed the Yeddyurappa had recorded the alleged payouts in a Karnataka state assembly legislator’s 2009 diary, in Kannada, in his own handwriting, which indicates that Yeddyurappa paid Rs 1,000 crore to the BJP central committee; Rs 150 crore each to finance minister Arun Jaitley and transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Rs 100 crore to home minister Rajnath Singh, and Rs 50 crore each to senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.

In addition, the report also alleges that Yeddyurappa  paid Rs 250 crore to “judges” and Rs 50 crore to “Advocates (fee paid for cases),” but does not mention any names and claimed that the income-tax department and the BJP government at the centre have been sitting on copies of these entries since August 2017.

Soon after the report was published, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, in a press conference held by the party, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come forward and clarify whether bribes to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore were taken by the BJP leaders or not, adding that the former Karnataka CM’s signature was found on every page.

However, Yeddyurappa denied the allegations while claiming the report was “planted by the Congress to gain mileage in the upcoming elections”. He said, “IT Department officials have already proved that the documents are forged and fake. Issues raised by Congress leaders are irrelevant and false. I'm discussing with the senior advocates to file a defamation case against the concerned person also.”

Related