Bengaluru: After much drama in the Karnataka Assembly, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday handed over his expensive Hublot watch to the government as a state asset.
Siddaramaiah handed the watch over to the Speaker with a declaration saying it should be forwarded to the Chief Secretary as a state asset and kept in the state cabinet hall.
He said the watch , which is said to cost several lakhs of rupees, was gifted to him by a Dubai-based non resident Indian friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma who "did not have any official dealings" with the government.
"By following the precedents set by my predecessors in office declare that the gifted watch Hublot Big Bang 301-M as a state asset," said the declaration.
This comes a day after the Opposition stalled the House repeatedly seeking a debate over the watch, with JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy even hinting it was a stolen watch gifted to the Chief Minister by a senior police officer in the Bengaluru City Police.
Kumaraswamy had said the stolen watch belonged to another NRI doctor in Bengaluru, Dr. Sudhakara Shetty, but the latter dismissed the allegation. Siddaramaiah also clarified that the value of the watch is Rs. 7 lakh and not Rs. 70 lakhs as alleged by Kumaraswamy.
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