Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accuses BJP leaders of corruption. There are allegations of bribes running into hundreds of crores of rupees to senior BJP leaders.
On Friday, Congress leader Surjewala cites a report and sought an investigation by Lokpal. The media report alleged bribes of Rs. 1800 crore paid by former Karnataka Chief BS Yeddyurappa to central BJP leaders, judges, and advocates.
The Caravan on Friday published that, the Income-tax department has possession of copies of diary entries by Yeddyurappa since 2017. These copies of the diary entries are from 2009, entailing the details of payouts of Rs 1,800 crore, he made to several BJP’s national leaders including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The report claims the entries in the diary were written by Yeddyurappa in Kannada language and carried his signature on every page.
The copies of the diary note that the BJP’s Central Committee was paid Rs 1000 cr, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was paid Rs 150 cr, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari was paid Rs 150 cr and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was bribed Rs 100 cr by Yeddyurappa. Senior leader L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were also paid Rs 50 crore each.
Soon after the report published, Surjewala, sought a response from the government at a media conference in Delhi. He said, ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come forward and clarify on the allegations made. Prima facie, the diary expose is a case of bribery of the BJP’s top leaders.’
Ashok Thakur, a BJP leader, calls the allegations of the Congress “fabricated claims”. “I think in the last one year, we have seen so many false allegations fabricated by Congress and later they run away from it,” he says. “Some substantial evidence is required. Congress will not succeed, as the government has done a wonderful job.”
Yeddyurappa says the Congress leaders are running out of ideas. “They are frustrated with the growing popularity of the Modiji, they have lost the battle before it began.” He rejected all the allegations and claimed that Congress has “planted the story in the media to gain mileage”. “The I-T department officials have already proved that 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,” he adds.
