Bidding for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pinstripe monogrammed suit intensified on Thursday with a diamond trader offering Rs. 1.41 crore, the highest so far, on the second day of the auction.
Two bids of Rs. 1.41 crore and Rs. 1.39 crore were received on Thursday afternoon in quick succession for the suit that Mr. Modi wore during U.S. President Barack Obama’s India visit last month, eclipsing the earlier offer of Rs. 1.25 crore made on Thursday morning.
Bhavnagar-based diamond trader and CMD of the Leela group of companies Komalkant Sharma has offered Rs. 1.41 crore for the two-piece suit, which according to some reports cost nearly Rs. 10 lakh.
“He (Mr. Sharma) has bid for Mr. Modi suit as it is for the good cause of ‘Clean Ganga Mission’. He will be here tomorrow and, if necessary, he will increase the bid amount,” Mr. Sharma’s representative Chirag Mehta, who had come to submit the written bid, told PTI.
Few minutes prior to that, Surat-based diamond trader Mukesh Patel had made a bid of Rs. 1.39 crore.
“There are many items but I preferred Modi suit. I will keep that incredible suit like a diamond,” Mr. Patel said, adding that he was inspired by the Prime Minister’s ‘Clean Ganga Mission’.
“When Narendrabhai was Chief Minister of Gujarat, he held such auctions for education of the girl child. Now, he is Prime Minister and he is making an appeal to clean Ganga. That is the reason that I made this bid,” Mr. Patel told PTI.
Earlier, Surat-based Rajesh Maheshwari, who has established the Global Modi Fan Club, made an offer of Rs. 1.25 crore, Rs. 4 lakh more than Wednesday’s highest bid which ended at Rs. 1.21 crore.
“We are true supporters of Modi and that is the reason we made the bid of Rs. 1.25 crore,” Mr. Maheswari said.
“We are 5,000 friends on various social networking websites. Yesterday, I made a proposal to make this bid and they agreed. If each person provides Rs. 50,000 then the amount can be easily generated,” he said.
Mr. Maheswari said the suit could be given on rent for weddings or for allowing people to click selfies to generate money which can then be used for a good cause.
On Wednesday, another textile businessmen Rajesh Juneja had made a written bid of Rs. 1.21 crore for the suit, which is the star attraction at the three-day auction which ends on Friday. There were four other bids of less than Rs. 1.21 crore.
The suit, that kicked up a political controversy, is being auctioned along with 455 items that Mr. Modi received as gifts during his nearly nine-month tenure to generate funds for the ‘Clean Ganga Mission’.
The auction at the Science Convention Centre will close at 5 p.m. on Friday after which the articles will be handed over to the highest bidder.
The Congress, the AAP and the Trinamool Congress had called the auction a “damage control” exercise.
The Congress had demanded that the process of auctioning be stopped immediately and the suit deposited with the t oshakhana (treasury).
