JOIN USThe Congress high command on Sunday sought a report from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the raging controversy over his expensive wrist watch.
The controversy has caused immense embarrassment to the Congress, which had been criticising the Narendra Modi government as ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’.
Moreover, the high command is concerned about the issue causing damage to the party’s image. The leadership was reportedly not happy with the explanation Siddaramaiah gave on the issue, during his recent visit to Delhi. However, there was no official confirmation in this regard from the party.
A section of the State party leaders has reportedly complained to the high command that the watch controversy was one of the reasons for the party’s poor performance in the recently held byelections to three Assembly constituencies and elections to zilla and taluk panchayats. The party managed to win only 10 of the 30 zilla panchayats, while it won only one of the three Assembly seats in the bypolls.
This apart, Congress MLC V S Ugrappa described JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy’s demand for a CBI probe into the controversy as “joke of the year.” Instead of making baseless accusations against others, Kumaraswamy should release documents to show how he has acquired a wide range of expensive watches, he demanded.
“One of the close aides of the JD(S) leader (Kumaraswamy) gave me a list of expensive watches he owns. Some of these watches cost more than Rs 1 crore. Kumaraswamy has to explain when he got those watches? Who gave them to him? Why didn’t he declare them in his affidavit of assets and liabilities during the Assembly polls?” demanded Ugrappa, who is a close aide of Siddaramaiah.
Ugrappa has also asked the JD(S) leader to clarify where exactly he erred in his life. Kumaraswamy recently said in a press conference that he has erred in some personal matter.