"Iphone was my personal gift to parliamentarians": DK Shivkumar

Bengaluru: In another wind to the line over iPhones being gifted to Parliamentarians, Minister for Medium and Major Irrigation and Medical Education D K Shivakumar, on July 17, asserted that the iPhones were his personal gift and the government had nothing to do with it. 

DK Shivkumar clarified that “Gifting an iPhone was my personal decision. I have gifted these with pure intentions and there is no politics included. If this was a crime then punish me,” 

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar’s tweet about the expensive gifts being offered out to the parliamentarians had stoked a controversy that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was trying to sway the opposition by doling out costly 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 denounced the costly gifts given to a delegate while the government did not have funds for the “development of coastal and North Karnataka” districts.

CM Kumaraswamy, who was in New Delhi on an official visit, had completely denied any involvement of the state government in the gifting of iPhones to the elected delegates. “I have no data about my government giving any iPhone to anybody. I have not marked any such proposal,” he told the media in New Delhi.