A flying squad of the poll panel checked the luggage of the state BJP president at a helipad in Shivamogga district.
Bengaluru (Karnataka): With election campaign peaking in Karnataka ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, the Election Commission on Tuesday carried out a surprise check on former state chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader BS Yeddyurappa.
A flying squad of the poll panel checked the luggage of the state BJP president at a helipad in Shivamogga district.
Voting will be held in Karnataka in two phases – during second (April 18) and third (April 23) phases of polling in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
The development came as cracks appeared in the Karnataka BJP with an aide of senior party leader and former Deputy CM KS Eshwarappa claiming that he has incriminating documents against the former chief minister.
On Monday, the Congress party on Monday demanded that an investigation by Lokpal be ordered against Yeddyurappa in connection with a ‘payoffs diary’.
At a press conference, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the former Karnataka CM should jailed if Prime Minister Narendra Modi fails to answer whether the contents of the diary were correct.
Sibal said the Income Tax Department must act against Yeddyurappa in connection with the ‘diary’, which has been in its possession since 2012.
“The I-T and ED officials should question the ministers whose names are written in the diaries and the money trail of this black money should be found out,” Sibal said.
According to Sibal, going by the contents of the diary, the entire top BJP leadership allegedly accepted bribes to the tune of over Rs 1,800 crore.
“We had demanded a probe and since the Lokpal has been constituted, this should be the first probe by it,” Sibal said at the press conference.
“We want that the prime minister should publicly tell if this is correct or not… The prime minister should answer. If the prime minister says Yeddyurappa is speaking a lie, then why should he not be arrested. If this (contents of diary) is true then it is a very serious issue and why should Yeddyurappa not be arrested. There should be a thorough probe,” he said.
Agencies
