Donation Diary: Allegations on both sides, but diary unusable

Karnataka has been in uproar over a diary, leaked to the media. The diary allegedly discloses huge sums paid as kickback by the Karnataka Congress to the Congress high command in Delhi. 

The Congress has denied all allegations. The BJP has been going hammer and tongs on the alleged diary, claiming that the initials mentioned in it clearly indicate Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. 

Meanwhile, HD Kumaraswamy, the JD(S) president lashed at both national parties. He accused them both of looting state wealth to fund high commands.
 
"I had shared evidence of BJP leaders in the state sending crores of rupees to their party high command when Yeddyurappa was in power. But nothing happened as the corrupt continued in power. Now it is time to send both the national parties - Congress and BJP - packing from Karnataka," he said. 

While the point may be strong, the fact remains that perhaps the diary may turn out to be a lot of noise from an empty vessel. 

As readers may recall, a similar scandal engulfed the BJP a few months ago, when documents seized by during raids on the Sahara offices seemed to indicate payments made to various political leaders - including the then CM of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. 

However, even as various parties tried to introduce the papers as evidence in court, the Supreme Court ruled than merely having numbers and names on a casual and official document did not constitute actual evidence of corruption. 

The current diary of Karnataka, also seized by authorities during a raid, may ultimately end up in a similar fate. After all, currently there is no way of proving that any money actually changed hands. The diary, if real at all, is simply initials and numbers in a book. 
 

Advocates Asianet Newsable reached out agreed with the same, stating that the diary controversy may end abruptly as it will not stand a chance in a court of law, if approached.
 

"The dairy or any other documents seized or raided by IT officials will be on display at the time of the raid. They cannot give seized documents to any person just like that. These properties will have to be present in court. And the IT department goes by protocol and will give such seized property only to the court," one advocate opined. 

"Hence the claims by Yeddyurappa and similar allegations on PM Modi in connection with the Sahara papers will fall flat,"  said the advocate.

• Donation Diary
• Govindaraju