Row Over Tamil Nadu Restaurant Owner's GST Apology To Sitharaman, BJP And Congress Weigh In

A viral video of a restaurant owner in Tamil Nadu, apologising to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a private conversation, has sparked a row. The video was shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Tamil Nadu social media cell state convenor, thus drawing flak from the Opposition.

The video came after Srinivasan – the owner of Sri Annapoorna restaurant, during a meeting of business owners with the Finance Minister in Coimbatore, publicly expressed concerns over the complexities of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on food items.

Srinivasan brought to Sitharaman’s attention, that an 18 per cent GST was levied on cream-filled buns in the state, whereas there was no GST on individual buns.

“Customers often ask me to only give them buns and say that they would add the cream and jam themselves,” Srinivasan told the Finance Minister at the event.

Later, during a private conversation, Srinivasan, also the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Hotel Owners Federation, apologised to the Finance Minister for bringing up the issue on a public platform, and in the presence of BJP’s Tamil Nadu MLA Vanathi Srinivasan at the event.

As the video drew the attention of the internet, the Congress and Chief Minister MK Stalin’s party, DMK, slammed the BJP for breaching the privacy of the restaurant owner and accused it of “arrogance and outright disrespect” of the restaurant owner. The parties also alleged that Vanathi Srinivasan had forced the owner to apologise to the Finance Minister.

VANATHI REFUTES ALLEGATIONS

On Friday, Srinivasan clarified she did not force the hotelier to apologise to Sitharaman.

Speaking during a press conference, Srinivasan said that during a telephonic conversation with her on Thursday, the restaurant owner expressed regret over his comments and said he wanted to apologise to the Finance Minister, after which she had scheduled a meeting between the two.

TAMIL NADU BJP CHIEF APOLOGISES

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai apologised on behalf of the party functionaries who shared the video.

In an X post, Annamalai wrote, “On behalf of @BJP4TamilNadu, I sincerely apologise for the actions of our functionaries who shared a private conversation between a respected business owner and our Hon. FM. I spoke with Thiru Srinivasan Avl, the esteemed owner of the Annapoorna chain of Restaurants, to express regret for this unintended breach of privacy.”

“Annapoorna Srinivasan Anna is a pillar of Tamil Nadu’s business community, contributing significantly to the state’s and nation’s economic growth. I request everyone to lay the matter to rest with due respect,” his post read.