Chennai: A tweet by Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji criticising Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai for wearing an expensive watch has been a hot topic of discussion. V Senthil Balaji has raised the issue over BJP chief K Annamalai's expensive foreign wristwatch. Annamalai claimed that he bought the Rafale watch before becoming the president with his hard-earned money and was willing to produce the bill's details.
Raising the issue, Senthil Balaji, took to Twitter and wrote, "Can you produce a receipt (for the watch purchased) within an hour?" the minister asked. Also, he wanted to know how it was possible for Annamalai, who claimed to own four goats and cows, to afford the limited edition Rafale watch worth Rs 5 lakhs. "Is it possible to buy for such a hefty sum?"
The minister claimed that the French firm produced only 500 wristwatches. This Rafale watch is a limited edition made by the French company marking the handing over of the Rafale fighter jets to India. In his response, Annamalai said, "since @arivalayam wants to fight on the issue of corruption with me, I'm more than ready to do that. The details of my Rafale watch, which was purchased in May 2021, along with its bill (before I became TN BJP President), All of my lifetime Income Tax statements..."
In another tweet, Annamalai said, "Photocopies of my 10 years of all of my bank accounts (every single income I had received will be shown), all my earnings as an IPS officer from Aug 2011 & till I resigned, details of all of the immovable properties I own that is more than 1 Lakh." The number of sheep and cows he owned will be released on the day he would start padayatra in Tamil Nadu "to meet the people who adore our Hon PM Thiru @narendramodi avl - which will be very soon,".
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K Annamalai joined BJP in August 2020 and was appointed party president in July last year. When the question was raised over his nationalism and wondering if the Rafale wristwatch was a symbol of the "Make in India" programme Annamalai said that he loved to wear it as "the watch was made when India ordered aircraft from Rafale." "It is made of parts from the aircraft. There are only 500 such watches. It is a collector's edition called the Rafale special edition. I did not get an opportunity to fly the Rafale aircraft, so as a nationalist I am wearing the watch," Annamalai said while speaking to reporters here on Sunday.
"Who else in the world would buy a Rafale watch? Only an Indian will. So, for the sake of the country, I am wearing a watch produced by Dassault Aviation, made of parts from the Rafale aircraft because I am a nationalist. I am not a person who speaks division," the BJP chief said.
