Yeddyurappa diaries row: 'It's joke of the year,' says ex-Karnataka Chief Minister's son

BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra has trashed the media report, which had alleged that the former Karnataka chief minister had paid Rs 1,800 crore bribe to BJP’s top brass. The Congress had yesterday held a press conference and demanded a Lokpal probe into the alleged bribery scam. Talking to reporters a day later, BY Raghavendra called the media report as ‘joke of the year’. He went on to say that his father is not in habit of writing diaries. “It's joke of the year, opposition created this, 1st thing my father doesn't have the habit of writing a diary, 2nd thing, signature on all pages? Creator of diary should have basic knowledge. BJP demands fair inquiry,” BY Raghavendra was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Yeddyurappa had also rubbished as "atrocious and malicious" the bribe allegations. The allegation has been already inquired into by the Income Tax department and it has been found that documents are "fake", the former Karnataka Chief Minister claimed, terming it as a "closed chapter". He accused the Congress of raising the issue as it was "frustrated" over its "imminent defeat" in Lok Sabha polls. The Lingayat strongman also said he was talking to legal experts on filing a defamation case.

"To be frank all the issues being raised by Congress including one raised by them today about alleged payment of crores of rupees has been already inquired and it was found that documents are fake," Yeddyurappa said in a statement. He said the Income Tax department officials found that the documents, signatures and handwritten notes were forged.

According to the media report, the Income Tax department is in possession of diaries maintained by former Chief Minister in which he had noted down payoffs allegedly made to top BJP leaders. According to the report, the diaries had Yeddyurappa noting down payments made in 2009.

Irrespective of what the status of the probe in the ‘Yeddy diaries’, the fact is it will become a major poll issued in Congress-ruled Karnataka.

Karnataka will vote in two phases on April 18 (second phase) and on April 23 (third phase). Polling will be held in 14 seats on Kolar, Mandya, Mysore, Tumkur, Chamarajnagar, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Bangalore Rural, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Chikkballapur in the second phase. The remaining 14 seats of Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Koppal, Bidar, Raichur, Shimoga, Davanagere, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Haveri, Bellary, Chikkodi and Belgaum will go for polls in the third phase.

Interestingly, in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) performed extremely well after the return of BS Yeddyurappa in the party fold. The 2014 election in Karnataka was held in a single phase on April 17. The state sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha. The BJP won 17 of these seats whereas the Congress was restricted to just 9 seats in the state. The Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) was successful in the remaining 2 seats (Mandya and Hassan). In 2009, the BJP was successful on 19 seats and the Congress and the JDS won 6 and 3 seats respectively.