Watch: Karnataka BJP MLA's son cuts cakes with iPhone; local Congress calls it ‘ugly display of wealth’

A video of a Karnataka BJP MLA’s son ‘cutting’ birthday cakes using an iPhone has gone viral leading to disbelief across social media. In the 15-second clip, Suresh, the son of Kanakagiri (Koppal) MLA Basavaraj Dadesugur, can be seen moving an iPhone over several cakes spread over two rows. The second row has each cake spelling out a letter of his name. As he glides the iPhone across the cakes, several people can be seen cheering the MLA’s son.

The video, which has been viewed over 4,14,000 times, has come under a lot of criticism from local Congress leaders, who called it an “ugly display of wealth”. The leaders added that such extravagant displays of wealth in times of a pandemic and economic slowdown were an insult to the deprived and poor people in the constituency. However, Dadesugur has defended his son, saying he was just celebrating his birthday with his “hard-earned” money. He has also defended using an iPhone, reasoning that his son did not use his hands to cut the cakes as the pandemic is still going on. The extravagant celebrations reportedly took place at Hosapete in the Ballari district. Other videos showed Dadesugur’s son driving with his friends in a BMW 520D luxury car. This is not the first time Dadesugur has landed in controversy over his extravagant displays of wealth. According to media reports, the MLA had sought crowd-sourcing for his election campaign in 2018, citing a lack of funds. After being elected, he has bought at least three luxury cars. This is not the first time people have used ostentatious objects for cutting birthday cakes. This year, actor Vijay Sethupathi used a sword to cut a cake on his 43rd birthday. The Tughlaq Durbar star later apologised for the incident, saying he did not want to set a bad example and promised to be more watchful in the future.