Politics over wristwatch continues in Karnataka

Bengaluru, Feb 21: State BJP president Pralhad Joshi on Saturday wrote to the Enforcement Directorate seeking a probe into the “mystery” surrounding the Rs 70-lakh Swizz-made Hublot watch being sported by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

In a letter to Enforcement Directorate Director Karnal?Singh, copies of which were released to the press, Joshi has stated that?Siddaramaiah was making contradictory statements on the watch. “There is a shadow of suspicion around the imported watch adorning the wrist of the chief minister. The enforcement directorate needs to unveil the truth,” he has stated.

The BJP?president wants the Enforcement Directorate to probe whether the import duty was paid for the watch, the original owner of the watch, whether there had been any violation of foreign exchange regulations and whether the possession of the watch had been declared before the tax authorities.

Meanwhile, a section of the Congress legislators on Saturday claimed that JD(S)?leader H?D?Kumaraswamy owned several expensive watches, including Franck Muller and Rado, and his son Nikhil Gowda drove high-end cars such as Lamborghini, Range Rover and Infinity Ex35.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, as many as 10 Congress legislators, including V?S?Ugrappa and H?M?Revanna, claimed that Kumaraswamy had not declared these items in his election affidavit. In a late reaction to Kumaraswamy's claim that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wore a Rs 70-lakh Swiss-made Hublot wristwatch, the legislators at the Saturday's press conference released copies of photos of Kumaraswamy wearing what they claimed were Franck Muller and Rado watches worth Rs 25 lakh and Rs two lakh, respectively. However, the Congress legislators did not release any documents to support their arguments.

“Kumaraswamy should realise that people who live in glasshouses should not throw stones. From where did he get these expensive items??What favours did he do to get them?” they asked.

Ugrappa claimed that while Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil had registered the Range Rover (worth Rs 50 lakh), the Lamborghini and Infinity Ex35 had not been registered with the RTO. They said Siddaramaiah still had the time to declare the gifts he had received (till March this year) or opt to hand over all the gifts to the government soon after completing his tenure. However, it was nearly 10 years since Kumaraswamy relinquished the office of chief minister but had not found the time to declare the gifts he had received, they said.

Ugrappa accused Kumaraswamy of receiving a car worth Rs 6.7 crore and a watch worth Rs 1.3 crore from a Dubai-based businessman. He claimed the Lamborghini owned by Nikhil was worth Rs eight crore and Infinity Ex35 Rs 1.2 crore. (However, automobile website www.cardekho.com puts the ex-showroom price of these cars in India at Rs 5.22 crore and Rs 28 lakh, respectively).