Byrathi gifts Cong leaders silver crown, mace; CM gives them to party

Congress MLA from KR Puram Byrathi Basavaraj caused a ripple by presenting a sliver mace and a crown as mementos to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president G Parameshwara and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh.

Basavaraj and his followers made the leaders don the crown and hold the mace up in the air. The mementoes are said to be worth several lakhs of rupees. A seemingly embarrassed Singh refused to don the crown though he held the mace briefly. Basavaraj is a close confidant of Siddaramaiah.

The leaders were felicitated at “Surajya Samavesha and Sarthaka Sambrama” organised by the KPCC to mark G Parameshwara’s completion of six years as the state Congress president. The event, attended by almost all senior party leaders of the state, was funded by party MLAs Byrathi Basavaraj, S T Somashekar and Munirathna, sources in the Congress said.

Siddaramaiah later announced that he will give away the mementos to the party. “After the watch episode (diamond-studded Hublot watch), I have decided not to accept any gift. I didn’t want to hurt the workers. So I accepted it,” he added.

However, going by the procedure followed in the watch controversy, the chief minister should have declared the crown and the mace as state assets. Once the chief minister accepts any costly gift, it automatically becomes a state asset.

But official sources in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms said the department will look into this aspect if it receives a petition. Siddaramaiah declared the Hublot watch, gifted to him by his friend, as the state asset. The watch is currently on display at the Cabinet hall of Vidhana Soudha.