DKShi claims iPhone was his 'personal gift' to parliamentarians

Bengaluru, 18 July 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: In a new twist to the row over iPhones being gifted to Parliamentarians, Minister for Medium and Major Irrigation and Medical Education D K Shivakumar, on July 17, claimed that the iPhones were his personal gift and the government had nothing to do with it.

"Gifting an iPhone was my personal decision. I have gifted these with pure intentions and there is no politics involved. Punish me if I have committed a crime," Shivakumar clarified.

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar's tweet about the expensive gifts being given out to the people's representatives had stoked a controversy that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was trying to sway the opposition by doling out expensive gifts. "Dear @CMofKarnataka @hd_kumaraswamy - Thnk u 4 convng all MPs tmrw to discuss Cauvery issue. But why is ur govt sendng expnsve phones to MPs? U claim Austerity; pourkarmikas r being denied salaries, but pub money used 4 ths kind of expnsve gifts? (sic)," he had tweeted.

The official Twitter handle of the BJP in Karnataka had condemned the expensive gadgets being shipped to a representative while the government did not have funds for the "development of coastal and North Karnataka" regions. It slammed the Kumaraswamy-led government as a "shame on democracy".

However, CM Kumaraswamy, who was in New Delhi on an official visit, had categorically denied any involvement of the state government in the gifting of iPhones to the elected representatives. "I have no information about my government giving any iPhone to anyone. I have not signed any such proposal," he told reporters in New Delhi