Surat businessman bids Rs 1.21 crore for PM Modi's pinstripe suit

Surat: A whopping Rs 1.21 crore has been bid by a Gujrati NRI in an auction on Wednesday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial pinstripe monogrammed bandhgala suit that he wore during US President Barack Obama's visit to India last month.

Viral Chowksi, the NRI made the offer at the three-day auction which commenced on Wednesday.

Another businessman Suresh Aggarwal made an offer of Rs one crore for the suit. "I have offered Rs 1 crore. This is work of charity and when the Prime Minister is doing for a great cause like cleaning of Ganga, I decided to go ahead and buy the suit," he said.

Another Raju Aggarwal offered Rs 51 lakh for the suit, saying it was for a noble cause.

The suit that created waves and kicked up a political storm will be auctioned along with 455 items that Modi had received as gifts during his nearly nine-month long tenure to generate funds for the Prime Minister's ambitious 'Clean Ganga Mission'.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suit, that he wore during his meeting with President Barack Obama last month, along with other 455 items that he received as gifts during his tenure as Prime Minister will be auctioned at a three-day event in Surat," Surat municipal commissioner Milind Toravane told PTI.

The gift items belonging to Prime Minister Modi is a national treasure and the money generated from the auction will be utilized for the 'Clean Ganga Mission', he added.

The event was organised at SMC's Science Convention Centre at city-lights road in Surat as the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) had decided to hold the auction event in the city.

Modi during his chief ministerial tenure in Gujarat had initiated a trend to auction the gifts that he received in a year and it was donated to Kanya Kelavani Yojna for girl child education, he said.

Modi was photographed wearing the suit during his summit talks with Obama in Hyderabad House in Delhi on January 25 and at a joint media appearance that followed the meeting.

Photographs of the suit on a closer inspection showed that the stripes were actually tiny letters spelling out his name in full — Narendra Damodardas Modi—and embroidered on the fabric vertically down the stripe.

The suit had triggered a debate in social media while the Prime Minister was slammed by his political opponents for wearing an expensive suit. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called Modi a "megalomaniac".

Toravane said no base price has been fixed for any of the items to come under the hammer.

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. Some reports said the suit cost nearly Rs 10 lakh.

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, including comparison with former Egypt President Hosni Mubarak who is known to have a similar outfit.

Congress leader Ajay Maken said the auction was a "damage control" exercise by the Prime Minister who was "widely criticised" for donning such a suit.

At the end of three days, the highest bidder will take away the navy blue suit.

Earlier, the first bid was made for Rs 11 lakh by a Surat-based chartered accountant Pankaj, while few minutes later, second bid of Rs 51 lakh was made by Raju Agarwal, an estate dealer.

Surat city collector Rajendra Kumar said the bidding will be closed on February 20 at 5pm.

All the bids are to be given in written form, he said.