Even as a Surat-based businessman bid a whopping Rs 1.21 crore for prime minister Narendra Modi's pinstripe bandhgala suit, questions are being asked whether Modi took permission from the Toshakhana (treasury) to auction the suit, which was gifted to him by an NRI Gujarati businessman named Rameshkumar Bhikabhai Virani. The base price of the suit was fixed at Rs 11 lakh.
Even as a Surat-based businessman bid a whopping Rs 1.21 crore for prime minister Narendra Modi's pinstripe bandhgala suit, questions are being asked whether Modi took permission from the Toshakhana (treasury) to auction the suit, which was gifted to him by an NRI Gujarati businessman named Rameshkumar Bhikabhai Virani. The base price of the suit was fixed at Rs 11 lakh.
Though everybody at the PMO was tight-lipped, the code of conduct set for union ministers, including the prime minister, clearly lays out procedures for gifts received by them from foreign governments. There is, however, a strict prohibition from receiving valuable gifts from anyone other than foreign governments, except close relatives. Under Rule 4.1 (a) of Code of Conduct of Ministers, "he (the minister) or members of his family should not accept any gifts at all from any person, whom he may have official dealings: and (b) nor permit a member of his family to contract debts of a nature likely to embarrass or influence him in the discharge of his official duties."
According to Rule 4.2, the prime minister and his ministerial colleagues can receives gifts only when they are abroad or from foreign dignitaries in India. Such gifts fall into two categories, those which are symbolic in nature- like ceremonial robes, swords of honour, which can be retained by recipients; and non-symbolic gifts valued less than Rs 5,000 can be retained by the minister, after officials at Toshakhana assess their value.
"If the value of gift on assessment is found to exceed limits of Rs 5,000, the recipient has the option to purchase it from the Toshakhana (which comes under ministry of external affairs) by paying the difference between the value as assessed and Rs5,000," explained an official. The household goods such as carpets, paintings, and furniture retained by Toshakhana are then sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan, PM's House or Raj Bhavans as state property.
PMO and MEA officials are tight-lipped as to whether the PM had sent his suit to Toshakhana for assessing its value, before putting it up for auction. Further, whether this gift will be treated as a gift from a foreign dignitary, the only permissible gift the PM can accrue. There is no provision for taking gifts from other than foreign dignitaries, the officials confirm.
The Congress party on Wednesday said that by auctioning the expensive suit, Modi was aiming at damage control. "This is happening three weeks after the suit was worn by Modi... This is a damage control exercise. Damage control of his reputation," Congress general secretary Ajay Maken told reporters.
The Congress reaction came soon after a Surat-based textile businessman, Rajesh Juneja, bid a whopping Rs 1.21 crore for the suit at the three-day auction which opened on Wednesday. "Wearing of a suit of Rs10 lakh was criticised not only in India, but globally... The people didn't like the way the prime minister wore the suit while meeting the president of US... So as a damage control exercise this was done by the prime minister," Maken said.
The suit, which Modi wore during his meeting with US president Barack Obama last month, along with 455 other items that he received as gifts during his tenure as PM, are being auctioning at a three-day event in Surat.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had also raked up the issue of Modi's expensive suit during the campaign for Delhi assembly polls, in which BJP was routed.
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