In what appears to be a tit-for-tat move following the kickbacks row, Congress leaders, on Saturday said that they will release a diary, which contains information on kickbacks allegedly paid by BJP leaders to the party high command in New Delhi.
Speaking to media persons, MLA HD Revanna, who is also a close aide of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said that the diary would be made public by Monday. The Congress has, however, released copies of the diary to media persons.
Furthering Revanna’s claims, Congress leader Ugrappa alleged that the Congress was in possession of the said diary.
“We will make it public tomorrow (Sunday). The BJP leaders claim to be honest but they are corrupt and we will show people the proof,” Ugrappa said.
A source in the Congress said that CM Siddaramaiah and JD(S) President HD Kumaraswamy have been holding talks regarding the ‘diary’ containing information on BJP leaders’ alleged corrupt activities since the last two days.
“The BJP has fabricated evidence against Congress leaders to malign their reputation. If they found the diary in a raid conducted in March 2016, why did they wait so long to make it public? They are spreading false news just ahead of the polls to ruin the image of Congress in Karnataka as it is one of the few states the party is in power,” the source added.
Reacting to the comments made by Congress leaders, BJP workers conducted a massive protest in Mysuru and shut down CM Siddaramaiah’s house, demanding that he resign and dissolve the assembly.
Similar protests were held in Dharwad outside Energy Minister, DK Shivakumar’s house, demanding his resignation.
BJP state President, BS Yeddyurappa, on Friday, had called for the dissolution of the Congress-led Karnataka Assembly and said that fresh elections must be held for the “people to choose their leaders”.
The BJP had released copies of a diary which had initials like RG, SG, KJG and MV, which the BJP claimed were initials of Congress leaders who allegedly paid kickbacks to the Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.