Karnataka's Wristwatch Scandal

Karnataka's ruling Congress managed to bag more zilla and taluk panchayats than its political rivals in this month's local elections billed as a semi-final to assembly polls two years away. It did far better than the previous election. But the results fell short of its own expectations – this means the government, under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's watch, needs to get its act together. Wait a minute...watch, did you say? That's the word Siddaramaiah certainly doesn't want to hear. It's the pun in the headlines, the question dogging him and one that's hurting his image.

The CM's diamond-studded wristwatch, one that purportedly cost between Rs 50-70 lakh (a Hublot, as made out from photographs) was the biggest talking point of the election season, thanks to H D Kumaraswamy, state president of the Janata Dal (Secular) and a former Chief Minister himself. Needled by a Siddaramaiah remark about how he was spending crores on a film to launch his son's acting career, Kumaraswamy sought out expert opinion from watch dealers in Dubai to find out the worth of the CM's wristwatch. Wasn't it unbecoming of a self-professed socialist to flaunt such wealth, he asked.

Siddaramaiah's comeback line was typical and, as many would agree, of the sort his old boss J H Patel was known for. He took off his sunglasses (which, Kumaraswamy alleged were worth a couple of lakhs) and the wristwatch and offered to sell them to whoever was willing to pay a fifth of the alleged cost. But it didn't help deflect scrutiny. Newspaper reports had it that the CM had been seen wearing Louis Vuitton and Hermes shoes and Rolex watches. The opposition wanted to know where he got his expensive wristwatch from and Siddaramaiah, uncharacteristically, fumbled, only to finally say it was a gift.

Last week, a group of the CM's loyalists, or the SPG (Siddaramaiah Protection Group as Kumaraswamy called them) turned on the former CM, accusing him of making allegations when he had much to answer himself. Kumaraswamy wore Franck Muller and Rado watches worth lakhs while he son drove a Lamborghini, Range Rover and Nissan Infiniti, they alleged. “He himself is in a glass house. If he wants to throw stones on others, what will be the result,” asks Congressman V S Ugrappa, a Karnataka Legislative Council member who is considered close to Siddaramaiah. These allegations were an attempt by Kumaraswamy to divert the issue from the infighting within his own party, he added. As the elections heat picked up, Kumaraswamy, meanwhile, also got involved in a nasty exchange with Ramya, the former Lok Sabha member from Mandya district and a Kannada film star.

Over the years, Kumaraswamy has trained his guns on rivals several times and threatened to expose them, a tactic that Siddaramaiah calls 'hit-and-run'. An equally famous episode was that of Kumaraswamy taking up a challenge, back in 2011, thrown at him by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to settle an allegation by taking a test of truth at the Dharmasthala temple in southern Karnataka. As a party member says, in recent years he's also raised several issues, like a lottery scam last year and now the wristwatch scandal.

“Whatever I have bought is with my own money, I have nothing to hide,” Kumaraswamy, who was a film producer before he came into politics, was quoted as saying by a newspaper. His son owed no explanations to anyone because he was not a public servant, he said.

The BJP too has stepped into the ring with state president Prahlad Joshi dashing off a letter to the Enforcement Directorate, seeking an enquiry into the CM's Swiss watch. “Practically speaking, there cannot be any objection from anybody had it been a straightforward case of Sri Siddaramaiah having bought it himself after following all the laws and regulations and made a clean declaration to this effect. But nothing of the sort appears to have been done by him and when this issue attracted the attention of the public and political parties in the state, the CM has been giving contradictory statements,” wrote Joshi, who also promised to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha.

Already, his party is using it as a handle to attack the Congress a la its 'suit-boot ki sarkar' line. For the record, the BJP had been no stranger to ostentatious displays of wealth during its previous regime in Karnataka, thanks to its mining magnates from Bellary who subsequently got entangled in an iron-ore export scam. In their heydays, G Janardhana Reddy and his siblings boasted of helicopters, luxury cars (a Rolls Royce Phantom among them) and made mind-boggling offerings to temples.

Costly watches and high-end phones, however, were in the news even a couple of months ago as allurements during elections to the state's upper house from the local authorities constituency. “These were our party members who were voting. And, we had to woo them,” rued one senior politician. It was unlikely the CM's watch played a big role in the recent local elections, some political observers feel, though it has certainly dented his image.

But within the Congress itself, party seniors were wondering why Siddaramaiah handled the wristwatch issue the way he did, and why didn't act sooner.

People close to the CM say he merely brushed it aside at first because he didn't think the allegation would snowball into a damaging episode. “Its usual for people give gifts on special occasions and the giver normally doesn't say how much they cost. Neither will the person receiving it, ask. Here, just a few months back some friend has gifted this watch,” says one partyman by way of explanation. “The CM has time to declare it while filing his income tax returns on or before 31 March, or before 30 June when he's filing assets and liabilities with the Lokayukta,” he says. According to one account, the watch costs around Rs 20 lakh.

Loyalists claim the CM, who's always attired in a dhoti and shirt, doesn't care much for luxuries. Of course, he loves his 'nati-koli' (chicken) curry and ragi mudde. Not everybody would fully agree with that picture. Says a senior politician who has worked with Siddaramaiah for several decades: “It's a fact that he has a weakness for things like watches, chappals, cooling glasses and silk clothes because he struggled in life in his early days. But not to the extent that's being alleged.”

But it's clear the CM can't brush aside the issue anymore. At a post-election press conference last week, Siddaramaiah was his usual, unruffled self though he refused to take any questions on the wristwatch. “Not today, I'll talk about that sometime else,” he said when asked for a comment.

By most accounts, there are three options the CM is mulling over. He can, like S Nijalingappa, declare it a state asset. As the story goes, the former Congress stalwart (who was twice Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1956-58 and 1962-68) had once received a costly watch from a contractor while he was CM. When the issue was raised on floor of the house, Nijalingappa declared the watch an asset of the state. Or, Siddaramaiah can take a leaf out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's book and auction the watch, just like how the PM auctioned his controversial monogrammed suit a year ago. Or, he can return the gift.
 
With no local elections in the state until the Congress' term concludes in 2018, Siddaramaiah said last week that he can now focus on running the government without distractions. The comment was more likely a hint directed at the party leadership in Delhi, says Sandeep Shastri, a Bangalore-based political commentator who reckons the zilla and taluk panchayat poll results weren't much of a face saver for the government, leader or the ruling party. It's no secret that the Congress' old guard in the state has been unhappy with Siddaramaiah, who's now promised a cabinet reshuffle to energise the government. That would be the next move to watch...er, follow.