Cong demands enquiry by SC judge into diary entries

 The state Congress on Saturday demanded that the Centre order an enquiry by a Supreme Court judge to probe the veracity of a diary which purportedly provides details of payoffs by state Congress members to their national leaders.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the probe should preferably be headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and should go into all aspects of the diary including how the BJP leaders and a national news channel were able to access its
contents.

The diary reportedly belongs to Congress MLC K Govindaraj and was seized by I-T sleuths during a raid on his residence last year.

Rao, who addressed the press conference along with four other leaders, said an impartial probe will reveal that the BJP has hatched a conspiracy to destabilise the Congress government in the state.

“First, there are I-T raids on Congress leaders in the state. Then BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa says three ministers in the government will have to resign due to corruption charges. Then he speaks about a diary with details about the high command being paid Rs 1,000 crore. Then, a national channel comes out with contents of the diary,” Rao said and added that the sequence of events clearly indicated that a conspiracy has been hatched against the state government.

‘Probe Sahara-Birla diaries’

He said the probe should also cover the Sahara-Birla diaries, which Rao said has sufficient material to prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted kickbacks from corporate houses when he was Gujarat Chief Minister.

Rao said the probe should also include another diary reportedly belonging to BJP MLC Lehar Singh, contents of which are doing the rounds on social media. This diary purportedly had details of payoffs by state BJP leaders to the party central leadership.

Rao said the Congress has lost faith in the I-T department. “How can confidential information be leaked? The Union finance minister and the prime minister are answerable to the people,” he said.

He said the CM’s office had written to the I-T department to ascertain whether unaccounted assets had been found during raids on Small Scale Industries Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi’s residence.

“The I-T department replied stating that no information can be shared during investigation as per section 138 of the I-T Act. How come the department is sharing information with the BJP?” he asked.

‘Diary not mine’ 

Congress MLC K Govindaraj has claimed that the diary seized by the Income Tax officials from his residence does not belong to him. When contacted on Saturday, Govindaraj, who is parliamentary secretary to chief minister, said that he had specifically told the I-T authorities at the time of investigation that the diary does not belong to him.