Yeddyurappa diaries rock nation

A diary allegedly belongs to B S Yedyurappa where he had purportedly kept an account of Rs 1800 crores pay off to top bosses of the BJP has rocked the nation.

The Congress releasing the diary noting in a press conference demanded a CBI inquiry while B S Yeddyurappa said that those were forged handwritings and investigating agency CBI was well aware of that.

The Congress alleged that B S Yeddyurappa had paid Rs 1500 crores to top BJP leaders. The whole issues was first reported by News Magazine 'The Caravan' indicating that the money was paid have been with the income tax department since 2017.

Union minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed the allegations made by the Congress. He said "Since the Congress is staring at defeat in the general elections, the party is weaving a web of lies"

"You can also have a look at the statement issued by CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes), which has already clarified on the issue" he said.

The CBDT statement, refuting The Caravan article, said when confronted in 2017, Mr Yeddyurappa said "he was not in the habit of writing a dairy and that the loose sheets in question were not in his handwriting. He denied his handwriting and signatures on the loose sheets."

The Caravan made the claim on the basis of documents in the Income Tax Department's possession since August 2017.

The documents comprise copies of diary entries in Yeddyurappa's handwriting in Kannada noting the payoffs. The entries were made in a 2009 diary, but it is not clear when the payments were actually made.

Each copy of the pages bears Yeddyurappa's signature, according to The Caravan. Yeddyurappa was the chief minister of Karnataka from 2008 to 2011.

According to he diary, Rs 150 crores were paid to Mr. Arun Jaitley and Mr. Nitin Gadkari. Even L K Advani was also paid Rs 70 crores.