The Congress party on Friday demanded an independent probe into a media expose referring to “Yeddyurappa diaries” alleging that the top Bharatiya Janata Party leadership was paid a bribe of Rs 1,800 crore.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “It (the diary) mentions names of senior BJP leaders from Rajnath Singh to Arun Jaitley. There is an allegation of bribe of Rs 1,800 crore on the top BJP leadership.”
Surjewala stepped up attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking if “chor chowkidar (watchman who is a thief) is ready to probe or admit his crime”.
The Congress spokesperson referred to a report published by news magazine, Caravan as ‘Yeddy diaries’ saying BS Yeddyurappa made payouts to senior BJP leaders during his tenure as Karnataka chief minister.
He demanded a probe into the allegation by the newly appointed Lokpal. Surjewala said, “Prima facie, it is a fit case for the Lokpal to initiate a probe as it involves the leaders who have run the government over the last five years.”
Surjewala said, “The diary with BS Yeddyurappa’s sign on it was with the Income Tax Department since 2017. If that is the case, why did Modiji and the BJP did not get it investigated?”
He said the Congress party had raised the mater in 2017, when it released a video showing conversation between Yeddyurappa and late Union minister Ananth Kumar. Surjewala said the two leaders talked about the money being paid to the top leadership of the BJP.
“If there is no truth to this diary then why did the BJP not get an inquiry done on this? If this is true then is this not a first-hand report of BJP’s corruption? Why is there no independent inquiry of this? Now there is also Lokpal and other independent bodies in place. Chor chowkidar is answerable for this.”
First Published:
Mar 22, 2019 14:46 IST
Source: HindustanTimes