In another attempt to negate the embarrassing allegations of receiving an expensive watch as gift, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday paid income tax for the watch, which he claimed was gifted by his Dubai-based doctor friend Girish Chandra Varma. The tax was paid before the watch was handed over to Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa.
Making this announcement in the Assembly, the Chief Minister claimed that he had not violated any law.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “I, being a law-abiding citizen, have paid the tax on the said gifted watch on this day of March 2, 2016.”
The Chief Minister paid income tax for the watch since he had received it as a gift from a person, who is not related to him.
In an obvious reference to the allegations of the Opposition parties that the watch may have been gifted to him in return of some official favour, the Chief Minister said, “Dr. Varma has no official dealings with the Government of Karnataka or its organisations.”
He added, “I, being the Chief Minister of Karnataka, by following the precedents set by the predecessors in office, declare the gifted watch Hublot Big Bang.301-M as a government asset and hand it over to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, to forward the same to the Chief Secretary, to place the same in the Cabinet Hall at Vidhana Soudha.” Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) of politicising the issue, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Opposition could have debated the watch issue during the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the joint session of the State legislature.
Earlier in the day, the Opposition stalled proceedings of the Assembly and Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar demanded a probe by a Central investigation team into the issue. JD(S) members too joined the protest.
Following the protest, the Assembly was adjourned twice before lunch. When it reassembled, the Chief Minister handed over the watch to the Speaker. During the run-up to the rural local bodies’ polls, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah, who boasts himself as a socialist leader and of his government’s pro-poor policies, was wearing a watch worth Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 60 lakh.
In the Council
The Opposition stalled the proceedings in the Upper House too on Wednesday seeking a debate on the matter under the adjournment motion. Later, speaking to presspersons, Mr. Thimmappa said he had no objection in taking the gift on the floor of the House without proper document such as affidavit filed by Mr. Varma. Mr. Thimmappa said, “No document was necessary and it doesn’t matter to me, to whom the watch belongs.”
The Speaker clarified that he would not allow the Opposition to discuss the issue under the adjournment motion, as there was a provision for them to take up the issue during the debate of Governor’s address.
