Yeddyurappa refutes charges; threatens to sue Congress

Accusing the Congress of levelling unsubstantiated allegations against him, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa has demanded the Congress to prove the allegations, or face a defamation case.

He was reacting to the allegations made in a report, accusing him of paying Rs 1,800 crore to top BJP leaders, judges and advocates.

Yeddyurappa said that the allegations were “baseless, irrelevant and malicious”, and were based on documents, which he said were fake. In a statement, he said that the IT department officials had already probed the issue and had found the documents, signatures and handwritten notes to be forged.

“Absolute nonsense, disgusting & desperate efforts by @INCIndia to release such fake diary, prove it at the earliest or face defamation case,” Yeddyurappa later tweeted.

The BJP, which launched a social media campaign (#CongressKiFakeDiaries) to discredit the charges, attacked Congress spokesperson R S Surjewala.

“After humiliating loss in Jind elections @rssurjewala seems to have lost his common sense in the process of proving his existence with @INCIndia. Calling a press conference only to peddle news without facts shows his desperation and disturbed mindset,” BJP Karnataka tweeted.