From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Upping the ante against the ruling BJP at the Centre and State BJP, top Congress leaders have demanded an independent and impartial probe headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into all the diaries, including the Sahara-Birla that named Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, as also the diary seized by the Income Tax Department from the residence of former State BJP Treasurer Lehar Singh Siroya in November 2013 and the recent diary from Congress MLC Govindaraju.

The Congress leaders, including KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Government Chief Whip in the Council Ivan D’Souza, former minister H M Revanna and V S Ugrappa, MLC, all of whom are known as the staunch followers of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said the Sahara-Birla diary seized by the IT Department after the investigation ordered by the apex court and submitted to the Supreme Court was far more serious as it specifically named the then Gujarat Chief Minister and mentioned the date and amount paid. The documents that were submitted to the Supreme Court also included e-mails and computer-messages, they claimed.

Dinesh Gundu Rao

“The owners of the Sahara-Birla diary have owned up the diary and therefore their authenticity was not in doubt,’’ Gundu Rao said and challenged State BJP Chief B S Yeddyurappa to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister and seek a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

Pointing out that the Congress MLC Govindaraju, whose house was first raided by the IT Department almost a year back, had publicly denied the existence of the diary when it was recently disclosed by Yeddyurappa and had even lodged a police complaint. The Congress MLC had not only denied the ownership of the diary but had claimed that the handwriting as per the copies circulated by Yeddyurappa were not his, the Congress leaders said.

When the Chief Minister had officially written to the IT Department seeking details of the raids conducted against some of the ministers and other Congress leaders, the KPCC Working President pointed out that the reply received was that the details of the raids were confidential and disclosing the details would be violation of Section 138 of the IT Act. ``This being the case, how did Yeddyurappa get the details?,’’ he asked and demanded Finance Minister Arun Jaitely’s resignation for breach of the IT Act by the officials.

“It is not just Yeddyurappa but even the Prime Minister has been speaking about the details of the alleged raids. Either Jaitely or Modi or both should resign for misusing the IT department for furthering the ruling BJP’s political interests,’’ the KPCC working President said.

Gundu Rao, Ivan D’Souza and Ugrappa claimed that they had details of the IT Department’s raids conducted at the residence of Lehar Singh Siroya, BJP MLC and treasurer when Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister on November 9 and 10 in 2013 and as per the diary that was seized a sum of Rs 391.8 crore had been paid to several State and Central BJP leaders, whose initials were mentioned. “Let there be an impartial inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and truth come out,’’ they said.

They also disclosed records of messages sent by BJP Mysuru-Kodagu MP and Yuva Morcha Chief Pratap Simha on October 23, 2012 that ``Yeddy brought an acre (of land) for Rs 10 lakh and sold it for Rs 10 crore! Jindal Iron Ore Company paid quite a few crores to his Prerana Trust.’’

The Congress leaders also released a three-page letter written by Lehar Singh Siroya to BJP leader L K Advani on May 13, 2013 regarding the huge amounts of money paid by Yeddyurappa to BJP and demanded a thorough probe.

“We believe in SatyamevaJayate and we adhere to it. Let truth come out. Will the BJP leaders starting from Yeddyurappa, Modi and Jaitely accept our challenge and order a probe?,’’ they asked pointing out that those staying in glass houses should not throw stones at others.

They said the Congress party has no problem in going before the people and facing elections. “But we will not be cowed down by these political gimmicks and misuse of official machinery,’’ they said.