BJP leaders coming out with their own versions: DK Shivakumar on Yeddyurappa 'diary' row

Amid the political slugfest over a 'diary' alleging that top leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had received Rs 1,800 crore from former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Friday asserted that some BJP leaders were coming out with their own versions.

He further said that he would comment on the matter at an appropriate time.

"Some BJP leaders are coming out with their own information based on what information they had. Let me go through it. I don't want to comment on it. I will comment on it at an appropriate time. (Congress) Party members have not spoken to me on this issue right now," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Shivakumar's comments came after the BJP raked up the issue of raids by Income Tax officials on the Karnataka Congress leader's properties in August 2017, in response to Congress' allegations.

"On August 2, 2017, raids were conducted on Shivakumar. He handed over a loose sheet to the IT officials, saying it was a loose paper of a diary. DK Shivakumar has been involved in such allegations in the past. When he was asked to prove the authenticity, he could not do so and that same loose paper was used in today's Congress press conference. Will Congress do politics on falsehood and misrepresentations?" Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said earlier today.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that there was a diary which had mentioned about payments allegedly made to the BJP's Central Committee which includes Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, besides the Prime Minister.

Surjewala, basing his allegations and contentions on the media report, claimed that the diary is reportedly with the Income Tax department since August 2017 but no probe had been conducted so far.

The diary also purportedly contains Yeddyurappa's handwriting and signatures, Surjewala alleged.

Later, Yeddyurappa rubbished the charges as "atrocious and malicious" and threatened to file a defamation case. He said that an inquiry had found the documents, cited by the Congress, as fake.

"Income Tax Department officials have already probed the issue and found that the documents and signature and handwritten notes are forged. The Congress leaders are apt in carrying out all these atrocious and malicious campaigns. They planted the story in the media to gain political mileage in the coming elections," Yeddyurappa said earlier in the day.