Karnataka Legislative Assembly was today rocked by the controversy over a luxury watch gifted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, as the BJP pressed for an adjournment motion on the issue, triggering a war of words between the ruling and opposition sides.
As the issue was raised soon after obituary reference, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa allowed Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar to make a preliminary submission to convince the chair to take up the issue as an adjournment motion, amidst resistance to it from the ruling Congress members.
In his submission, Shettar while calling the watch issue a matter of public interest accused Siddaramaiah of violating the code of conduct for ministers and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and demanded discussion and response from the government on the issue.
After hearing the matter, the Speaker said it could notbe taken up as an adjournment motion and asked the opposition to discuss it during the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address.
Following this, BJP members entered the well of the House in protest, leading to adjournment for lunch. Defending himself, Siddaramaiah alleged that the Opposition was indulging in "character assassination". "I have already stated in public that I got the watch as gift in July from a Dubai-based NRI friend, by March I will declare about it in my IT returns. To Lokayukta I have to declare in June, I will be doing it. I have also said that I will deposit the watch to the state government," he said. "FCRA is not applicable to this case as the person who gifted it is not a foreign national, but an NRI," he added. Siddaramaiah has come under attack over his luxury diamond studded Hublot watch.
As the controversy erupted, he declared last week that the watch, claimed to be worth Rs 70 lakh, would be declared as state asset and handed over to the government. As Shettar questioned Siddaramaiah who claims himselfto be a "socialist" and "follower" of Ram Manohar Lohia for his conduct, Siddaramaiah in a rebuttal reminded BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wearing a "Rs 10 lakh monogrammed suit".
When the House met after the lunch, BJP members continued with the protest by entering the well of the House demanding discussion on Siddaramaiah's watch issue. As Speaker's attempts to conduct the proceedings failed, he adjourned the House till tomorrow.
The controversy was stoked by JD(S) leader H DKumaraswamy after which the Chief Minister disclosed that theexpensive watch was gifted to him by his close friend DrGirish Chandra Verma who visited India last July.
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Earlier, as Shettar raised the issue, ruling party members led by Law Minister Jayachandra and Industries Minister R V Deshpande objected to it.
Shettar, hitting out at ruling party members, questioned why they were "scared" of discussing the issue, leading to heated argument between both sides.
Intervening, the Speaker said he will allow preliminary submission, despite objection from senior ministers.
As Shettar began to accuse the Chief Minister of violating the code of conduct for ministers and FCRA, ruling party members lead by Bengaluru Development Minister K J George objected to it and showed pamphlets containing pictures of BJP leaders, including former Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, with watches.
Responding to this, BJP leaders said they are ready to discuss it and government cannot scare them by showing pictures.
BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai said Yeddyurappa has declared about the watch to Lokayukta and the Minister was trying to misuse the opportunity as the former Chief Minister is not in the House to defend himself.
The issue of Kumaraswmay hinting that Siddaramaiah's 'gift' watch may be a 'stolen' one belonging to a doctor also found a mention during the arguments.
With Speaker directing the Home Minister G Parameshwara to find out about the stolen watch, the latter said that there was no connection with the case of the doctor's lost watch.
Kumaraswamy, who maintained silence during most part of the discussion, stood up to defend himself as the issue of him accepting a silver chair during his tenure as Chief Minister came up during the debate.
Clarifying, Kumaraswamy said he had never accepted the chair and had advised those gifting him to donate it to pontiff of Siddaganga Mutt, who is engaged in multifarious social activities.
