Bengaluru: With just six days left for the state Assembly polls, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Sunday alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had met absconder Vijay Ishwaran at the World Economic Forum meeting in China in 2013 and wondered if the gift received from Ishawaran was a premium Rs 70 lakh worth Hublot watch.
Speaking at a press conference here, Mr Patra said, "In September 2013, Mr Siddaramaiah went to attend the WEF meeting in China and there he met Vijay Ishwaran who is an absconder. There was another absconder and SFIO has called both a national threat," he charged flashing purported photographs showing Mr Siddaramaiah and Ishwaran along with three others.
Mr Patra claimed that Mr Siddaramaiah is in a picture with absconder Vijay Ishwaran- against whom a chargesheet was filed in Chennai in 2009- with the photo clicked at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in China in 2013. He said that in spite of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) declaring Iswaran an absconder, the chief minister met him. "Mr Siddaramaiah must come out clean on this episode," he thundered.
It may be recalled that this attack comes in the wake of the recent allegations levelled by the Congress against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of meeting PNB fraud accused Nirav Modi during the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had clarified that PM Modi had not interacted with Nirav Modi in Davos.
