Congress Demands Lokpal Probe Into Yeddyurappa ‘Diary’

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday released a video of the ‘original’ copy of former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa's purported diary, which had allegedly recorded the amounts he gave to top BJP leaders and the party centre, and demanded a Lokpal probe into the matter.

Releasing a video of what he termed the ‘original’ diary, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also demanded that Yeddyurappa, who was a three-time CM of Karnataka, be arrested on the basis of the details in the said diary.

As per a report in National Herald, in the video, “neatly handwritten figures allegedly show dates, amounts and names of the leaders, who were all in the opposition then, to whom ₹1,800 crore in all were delivered. The diary, dating back to 2012, apparently contains names of Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari among others.”

It may be recalled that the Congress had last month released copies of the said diary, after which the BJP had shot back saying these were photocopies, accusing Congress of playing election games. The copies were allegedly found during an income-tax raid on Congress leader D K Shivkumar’s residence. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, too, had issued a statement, terming the said diary as “loose papers” whose originals were not available.

At the press conference, Sibal said now that the Narendra Modi government has appointed the first Lokpal weeks before the election, “this diary should be the first investigation taken up by the Lokpal into corruption charges against the Prime Minister and other union ministers.”

The Congress leader termed it as a “cognizable offence”, alleging that top BJP leaders were involved in this matter.