Bengaluru, Feb 26: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has decided to announce his luxury watch as a state asset, revealed that it was it was a “gift” from his Dubai-based doctor and friend Girish Chandra Varma.
The Chief Minister, who came under severe attack from the Opposition JD(S) and the BJP on the “expensive and imported” watch, said: “Dr. Varma gifted me the watch last July when he visited India. I have been a close friend of Dr. Varma since 1983.” Mr. Siddaramaiah said he would pay the gift tax for the watch and provide information to the Lokayukta before July-end during declaration of assets and liabilities.
“I received the gift in July (2015) and I will provide information to the Income Tax Department before March 15. I will not wear the watch, instead I will donate it to the government to preserve it,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said Dr. Varma studied MBBS in Davangere and completed his postgraduation in Mangaluru. He later practised in France and the U.S. He now resides in Dubai. When the doctor visited India in July 2015, he removed the watch from his wrist and gifted it to Mr. Siddaramaiah. The doctor will provide all details of the watch, including bill receipt and payment of taxes, when he visits India this July.
“The doctor meets me whenever he comes to India and Bengaluru,” the Chief Minister said. “Dr. Varma is a cardiac surgeon. He has been my friend for more than 30 years. He gave me the gift as a gesture of affection and friendship. According to Dr. Varma, the value of the watch is 75,000 dirham,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said, adding that JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has been making the watch “a big issue without any basis”.
During the run-up to the elections to rural local bodies, Mr. Kumaraswamy had alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah, who boasts of socialist credentials and pro-poor policies, was wearing a watch worth Rs. 50 to Rs. 60 lakh, and sunglasses valued at Rs. 2 lakh. In its petition to the Enforcement Directorate, the BJP had urged the ED to conduct an inquiry into the Rs. 70 lakh Swiss wrist watch.
Asked whether he would file a defamation case against the JD(S) leader, the Chief Minister said he would not indulge in such “low-level politics”.
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Comments
Congratulations to Siddaramaiah for making the BJP's job easier. Hope he continues to lend his helping hand with his watch:)
It seems Siddaramaiah had said he wud sell his watch to anyone who paid him even Rs 5 lakh for it. Ready to beg, steal or borrow.
37 Chennai &38 Bangalore ranking is pretty bad. Siddaramaiah can utilise money from d auction of his watch to clean a mini area
After Modi’s luxury suit, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s Rs 70 lakh watch to be auctioned`
Siddaramaiah Govt must stop fooling people & work for the State. If not time will run out even on his 70 lakhs watch
Modi's few thousand worth suit becomes worth 10 lacs with nonstop coverage. But Siddaramaiah's 70 lacs watch doesn't get any coverage
It's a second hand watch gifted to me. I'll pay gift tax, won't wear it &will make a state asset
Will pay tax on Rs 70 lakh watch which was gifted to me but will not wear it, says Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
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