Advani resigned after named in hawala diary; now, Modi should quit: Mattu

Bengaluru, Feb 26: At a time when the Karnataka Congress is trying to fend off allegations of payments to the party high command, being made based on the entries of a diary allegedly seized from Congress MLC K Govindraj, a facebook post put up by chief minister Siddaramaiah's media adviser Dinesh Amin Mattu has come as a source of embarrassment.

In the post, uploaded on Friday, Mattu referred to an incident that occurred more than two decades ago, involving senior BJP leader LK Advani. Mattu pointed out that Advani resigned from the Lok Sabha, in the wake of his name cropping up in the Jain Hawala Diary. The post also makes references to the Sahara-Birla diary that allegedly names Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mattu opined that Modi ought to set a precedent by resigning to his post.

However, it is the reference to the diary, allegedly seized from Govindraj that has irked Congress leaders."If at all Govindraj's diary exists, then the politicians mentioned in it should resign without wasting any time," read Mattu's post.

Mattu defended the FB post. "They are singling one sentence in the post, and not reading it in its proper context. It is my personal Facebook account. I have said that Modi should set the standard for moral values in politics by resigning. In fact, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao called me, and told me that they will share my post on social media," Mattu said.

Taking exception to the post, KPCC secretary Jayasimha has written to Siddaramaiah. "At a time when Congressmen are worrying about the developments, Mattu, who should be protecting the CM's interests is denigrating the party," Jayasimha said.