Bengaluru: JD(S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy’s watch offensive took on a new colour on Friday when he not only tore through Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s claim that it had been gifted to him by a friend from the Gulf, but implied it was a watch once owned by a businessman named Sudhakar Shetty before it was stolen by his household staff.
“Why hasn’t the friend come forward? No friend will sit quiet in a distant country while his close friend is in trouble. He would have issued a statement long ago or flown down to India to give a clarification. Can a friend give a second-hand gift? I doubt it. I doubt the friendship,” he said.
Demanding a CBI probe into the controversy, Mr Kumaraswamy went a step further and claimed the Chief Minister's watch was similar to the one worn by one Sudhakar Shetty, who had complained to the Cubbon park police about losing four wrist watches and some rings.
"I received a call on February 10 from someone who said his friend, Sudhakar Shetty wanted to meet me. He also said the watch the Chief Minister was shown wearing on television was Sudhakar Shetty’s and he wanted to discuss the matter with me. But unfortunately I was busy campaigning for the next three days and when I returned, I asked for him, but he had left Bengaluru for Kundapura,” the Janata Dal (Secular) leader claimed, giving another startling twist to the watch saga.
Showing copies of Mr Shetty’s police complaint, he demanded, “What happened to Mr Shetty’s watches? Did the police investigate and find out. I was told Mr Shetty’s passport has details about his lost watch. To check the similarities we need a high level probe.”
But when within half-an-hour of his press conference, television channels said Mr Shetty had denied ever contacting Mr Kumaraswamy, the Janata Dal (Secular) leader conceded, “It is possible the watches are different. I am not denying the possibility of the Chief Minister getting the watch from someone else. But this has to be investigated.”
