Bengaluru: Did CM Siddaramaiah violate code of conduct for ministers?
BENGALURU: Did CM Siddaramaiah violate the moral code of conduct for a minister while receiving an expensive wrist watch as gift from Dubai-based surgeon and friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma?
Quoting provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, BJP leader stated in the Legislative Council that the Chief Minister and Ministers should not accept valuable gifts except from close relatives, and or members of his family should not accept any gifts from any person with whom the leaders could have official dealing.
These rules, which were notified by the Union ministry of home affairs, state that a minister could receive gifts when he goes abroad or from foreign dignitaries visiting India. Such gifts fall into two categories.
The first category include gifts which are of symbolic nature, like a sword of honour, ceremonial robes etc and which could be retained by the recipients.
In the second category are gifts valued less than Rs. 5000, and could be retained by the minister. In case of a doubt about the estimated value of the gift, the matter should be referred to Toshakhana for valuation.
If the value of the gifts is below Rs 5000, it can be retained by the minister, if gift value exceeds Rs 5000 the recipient will have the option to purchase if from the Toshakhana by paying the difference between the value as assessed by the Toshakhana, that too only gifts such as household goods, carpets, paintings, furniture exceeding Rs 5000 in value, would be displayed in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister's house or Raj Bhavan as state property.
Opposition leader K.S. Eshwarappa stated that the law does not permit CM Siddaramaiah to receive expensive gifts. He has no moral right to continue in office, and should resign immediately. He appealed to the Chairman to grant permission for a discussion on the issue under an adjournment motion.
However, leader of the House and IT minister S.R. Patil stated that the matter was not of public importance. Besides, a case was filed in JMF court in Bengaluru, and any matter pending in court could not be taken up for discussion, he added.
A war of words ensued followed by ruling party members displaying pictures of senior BJP leaders B.S.Yeddyurappa, D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar with expensive wrist watches. They even displayed pictures of JD(S) leader H.D.Kumaraswamy in a posh mall along with actress Radhika.
