Demand heats up for Modi's 'ten lakh suit' in Surat: Industrialist makes Rs 1 crore bid

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pinstripe monogrammed bandhgala suit, which stirred up quite a controversy during  President Barack Obama’s visit, went up for auction in Surat on Wednesday and is by all accounts a roaring success, with the latest bid for the suit at a whopping Rs 1 crore, made by industrialist Suresh Agarwal.

The suit received an opening bid amount of Rs 51 lakh from another Surat resident Rajubhai Agarwal.

And, while several reports claimed that the price of the suit which Modi wore during his interaction with Obama at Hyderabad House last month apparently cost the PM a whopping Rs 10 lakh, ANI in an exclusive report says that a certain , Rameshkumar Bhikabhai Viran i, gifted the suit to Modi during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and that it definitely did not cost him Rs 10 lakh.

Virani, director of the KARP Group which manufactures and markets polished diamonds and diamond jewelry, said the the suit was a surprise gift and that Modi from the very beginning had told him that the gift would end up being auctioned to charity. Ironically, the interview was published just an hour after Congress leader Ajay Maken tweeted that as per the rules, a PM is not allowed to accept gifts above Rs 5,000.

Look at the latest statutory position.Modi is not a CM but PM.

MT @alankarsawai: Do the rules permit?#ModiSuit http://t.co/RremXTSy7J

— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) February 18, 2015

" I am from Gujarat. I presented this suit to him (Prime Minister Modi) when I attended the recent Vibrant Gujarat Summit. I gave it while extending an invitation to him to attend my son’s wedding on January 26… My son’s name is Smit Virani. I gave this gift to my elder brother (Prime Minister Modi) on behalf of my son. My son had this idea of making this monogrammed suit. He said he wanted to give a surprise to Modiji," virani is quoted as saying by ANI.

The NRI businessman further said his family’s ties with Prime Minister Modi go back to over four decades, and added that there were many memorable moments that both shared during all these years.

The pin-striped suit, which spelt the prime minister’s full name - Narendra Damodardas Modi - over and over, had kicked up a storm. While Twitter trolled Modi for wearing such an expensive suit, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called Modi a “megalomaniac” and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also had raked up the issue of Modi’s expensive suit during the campaign for Delhi assembly polls in which BJP was routed by AAP.

And now  TMC has taken a dig at the auction and said it was a damage control exercise.

“This is DCPR, Damage Control Public Relations, this has nothing to do with Ganga cleaning,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien tweeted.

We hear the famous suit will now be auctioned for a good cause... DCPR... Damage Control PR :)

— Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও'ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) February 18, 2015

Discussions on whether the suit, which from a distance appeared to be a classic navy blue pinstripe design, was fine style and good form or a thinly-disguised show of narcissism coursed through social media, even attracting global media attention. Tweets flew thick and fast, which also compared the Indian PM with former Egypt President Hosni Mubarak who is known to have a similar outfit.

And now Modi is being trolled for auctioning the suit, the proceeds for which will be used for the PM’s Ganga clean-up drive. But on Twitter the debate is not over the Rs 1 crore bid but rather whether it is mandatory for the PM to declare gifts to the government Toshakhana?

While there are no details of the gifts received in Toshakhana, ( the list of  gifts  which ministers, bureaucrats and dignitaries are supposed to deposit all the gifts they receive on their trips abroad) for January, you can see the full list of gifts for the October-December quarter here

Check out some of the Twitter responses below:

Who is auctioning the gifts received by PM? Don't they need to be transferred to Toshakhana first?

— Raju Das (@rajudasonline) February 18, 2015

Should the suit not go into the Toshakhana ? Just asking @ANI_news: Ramesh Bhikabhai Virani who gifted PM #ModiSuit pic.twitter.com/U8RWKMO9ue

— Meera Sanyal (@meerasanyal) February 18, 2015

— Champ-u-terology (@BolshoyBooze) February 18, 2015

Did Modi wash the suit after he wore it on Republic day?

— N Sundaresha Subramanian (@sundarbandar) February 18, 2015

Part of the money from #ModiSuit auction should also go to Congress and Aap.. They gave it so much publicity for free... :)

— S (@galprobz) February 18, 2015

#ModiSuit auction is a APCO #DamageControl Public Relations for Modi, this has nothing 2 do with Ganga cleaning. pic.twitter.com/lA13a7TleO

— Rising Uttar Pradesh (@UPRisingUP) February 18, 2015

Modi Govt already alloted huge funds 4 Ganga cleanup
Need of hour is funds 4 Swineflu
Why not donating suit amount to them?#DamageControl

— Harshad Sharma🤚 (@SherESharma) February 18, 2015

Wonder if the Modi suit will be bought with black money #heh #ModiSuit

— Colleen Braganza (@colleenbraganza) February 18, 2015

For the auction, Modi donated about 450 objects given since being appointed prime minister in May after winning the biggest parliamentary majority in three decades.

The gifts he has received include silver cufflinks, a ceramic vase, a carpet and a silver box with precious stones, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

The proceeds from the auction of PM’s gifts will be deposited with the Namami Gange (obeisance to Ganga) fund, with more such events planned in other parts of the country. The auction organised by the Gujarat government will also see its chief minister Anandiben Patel’s gifts go under the hammer.

This is also not the first time that Modi is  auctioning off gifts for charity – as chief minister of Gujarat, he gave away some 18,000 items, raising over Rs 89 crore for girls’ education.