If Rahul proves 'diary gate', I will retire: BSY

Taking offense to Congress president Rahul Gandhi using the joint rally organised by his party and the JD(S), as a platform to refer to the ‘diary gate’ scandal, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday challenged the former to prove the allegations.

Soon after the Congress-JD(S) rally ended, Yeddyurappa issued a statement where he avowed to retire from politics, if the allegations were proven by the grand old party. Else, Rahul should apologise to the people of Karnataka, he said.

While addressing the gathering at the Parivartana Samavesha, Rahul charged that Yeddyurappa’s diary entries showed that he had looted the people of the state to “bribe” his central leaders including Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh. He wondered if Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew the source of the money.

Taking exception to this, Yeddyurappa said that Rahul should stop making baseless allegations against him. “Despite the officials of the IT department describing the diary contents as fake, Rahul has referred to the same during the rally. He is making false and fictitious allegations against our leaders who have an unblemished track record in politics. I sincerely request Rahul, who is holding a responsible position, to stop making such irresponsible and silly statements. By levelling baseless allegations in his enthusiasm to win over the voters, he is becoming a laughing stock in public mind. I challenge him to prove the allegations. I am ready to retire from politics if he does so. Else, he should apologise to the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka who have immense faith in the BJP and me,” his statement read.

Yeddyurappa also said that Rahul’s statements on the diary, exposed his lack of faith in the constitutionally established bodies and its officials.

Recently, The Caravan magazine had published that Yeddyurappa had made payoffs to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore to his national leaders.

The Congress had subsequently accused several BJP leaders of having received bribes from Yeddyurappa.