Why is the BJP planning to bring up the Karnataka chief minister's wrist watch in Parliament?
Opposition claims the watch is worth Rs 70 lakh.
There are a lot of important things happening across the nation – from student protests to farmer suicides to the state of the economy – which need to be brought up in the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament. And then there's also an allegedly Rs 70 lakh wristwatch.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party president Prahlad Joshi has threatened to bring up the matter of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wrist watch up in Parliament, as part of his demands for an enquiry into the timekeeper.
"The CM should clarify on the value of the Hublot watch he claims to have received as gift," Joshi told reporters on Sunday. "He should also clarify whether he paid the custom duty and reveal the source of in come. If he fails do so by February 23, I will raise the issue in the Lok sabha seeking an inquiry."
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's wrist watch is worth Rs 70 lakhs
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) February 12, 2016
spent 4 Lakhs on towels
2 Lakhs on shades
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Touching pic.twitter.com/r3F3QAmmGN
Siddaramaiah's watch has become one of those curious little subplots that manages to garner attention even as it sits alongside more serious issues in Indian politics. The opposition in Karnataka would like it to turn into Siddaramaiah's version of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegedly Rs 10 lakh monogrammed suit, which was given to him as a gift and has since become a symbol of his relative aloofness from ground realities.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who heads the opposition Janata Dal (Secular) even put together a "detective squad" that traveled to Dubai in order to estimate the cost of the chief minister's Hublot, as the News Minute reported. According to a sales person featured in that video, the diamond-studded watch costs around Rs 70 lakh.
The Opposition has been taking on the chief minister, who professes socialism, for owing a watch that is likely to be extremely expensive even if not Rs 70 lakh. The chief minister's office has claimed that the watch was given to him as a gift, and that it is not worth the prices that are being quoted in the press.
The matter actually came up after Siddaramaiah's Congress brought up the amount of money Kumaraswamy was spending on his son, but it has now become a stock talking point in the state, and could soon even be brought up in Parliament.
