Updated

New Delhi, Mar 22 (IANS): Former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa made payouts of Rs 1,800 crore to senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, judges and lawyers, reported The Caravan on Friday.

The report said news magazine The Caravan accessed copies of diary entries in the handwriting of Yeddyurappa that note payoffs amounting to over Rs 1,800 crore to the BJP leaders such Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, the BJP stalwart L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi among others.

"The copies of the diary pages note that Yeddyurappa paid the BJP Central Committee Rs 1,000 crore; that he paid the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari Rs 150 crore each; that he gave the Home Minister Rajnath Singh Rs 100 crore; and that he paid the BJP stalwart LK Advani and the senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi Rs 50 crore each," reads the report.

Randeep Surjewala

"Besides this, the entry notes, Yeddyurappa paid Rs 10 crore for "Gadkari's son's marriage." The diary entries also state that Yeddyurappa paid Rs 250 crore to "judges" and Rs 50 crore to "advocates (fee paid for cases)," but does not mention any names."

The alleged payouts were recorded by Yeddyurappa in a Karnataka state assembly legislator's 2009 diary, in Kannada, in his own hand, the report said.

Copies of these entries have been with the income-tax department since 2017.

The entries regarding payments to the BJP leaders, judges and advocates were written against rows dated January 17, 2009, while the entry regarding the BJP central committee was written against rows dated January 18, 2009, said the report, adding it was unclear whether the entries were made on these dates or written in the diary on a later date.

Yeddyurappa served as the chief minister in Karnataka from May 2008 to July 2011.

Congress demands Lokpal probe

Days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, a political controversy erupted on Friday after a media report titled 'The Yeddy Diaries' published by news magazine 'The Caravan' alleged that former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa paid Rs 1,800 crore to some top BJP leaders with the Congress daring the government to order an investigation by the newly-appointed Lokpal.

The BJP refuted the allegations as "baseless".

Addressing reporters, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded to know who the "beneficiaries" of the money paid by Yeddyurappa were, saying, "It is a fit case to be investigated by the newly constituted Lokpal."

"There is an allegation of bribe of Rs 1,800 crore on the top BJP leadership. Is it true or false? The diary with B.S. Yeddyurappa's sign on it was with the Income Tax Department since 2017. If that is the case why did Modi ji and BJP not get it investigated?" Surjewala asked.

"Prima facie, this is a case of investigating all BJP leaders, right from the Prime Minister. It is a fit case to be investigated by the newly appointed Lokpal," he said.

The Congress leader claimed that the I-T department approached Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to find out whether there should be an inquiry but nothing happened.

"We are not here to do mudslinging like the BJP. We are here to tell people," he said.

Reading out a purported conversation between Yeddyurappa and late union minister Ananth Kumar alluding to the bribery, Surjewala said, "The Congress had raised the matter in 2017, when it released a video of conversation between Yeddyurappa and late Union minister Ananth Kumar. The two leaders talked about the money being paid to the top leadership of the BJP."

He said if there is no truth to this diary, then why the BJP did not get an inquiry done.

"If this is true, then is this not a first-hand report of BJP's corruption? Why is there no independent inquiry on this? Now there is also Lok Pal and other independent bodies in place. Chor-chowkidar is answerable for this," he said.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Congress for spreading "a web of lies" and said the Congress is "desperate and has lost its balance".

"Karnataka Congress leader D. Shivakumar has been involved in such allegations in the past and he made his claims on the basis of a sheet of paper. The Income Tax Department department asked him if he had the original copy of the paper, but he could not present it," he said.

"The diary shown was just a photocopy. The Congress has lost his balance and has realized that their defeat in the 2019 elections is imminent. They have lost the battle before it has begun," he said adding that the issue was raised as part of Congress' attempt to divert people's attention from the embarrassment it faced due to remarks made by Sam Pitroda over Pulwama terror attack and Indian Air Force's strike in Balakot.