Bizman apologises to FM for posing query, sparks row

NT Correspondent, Bengaluru: A political slugfest broke out on Friday over a Tamil Nadu businessman apologizing to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his comments two days prior. Annapoorna Srinivasan, the Managing Director of the Annapoorna chain of restaurants had questioned the Centre’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy at an event in Coimbatore on Wednesday. He had said in public the snacks in the same order attracted GST under different slabs, arguing for a simplification, albeit in a humorous fashion. “The problem is different GST slabs are applied to each item.

For instance, there is no GST on buns. However, if you put cream in it, it attracts 18 per cent GST. Therefore, customers demand that we give them bun and cream separately, reasoning that they would apply cream on the bun themselves to save money,” Srinivasan said to laughter from the crowd. Sitharaman also appears to laugh off the joke. “In Tamil Nadu, sweet, salty snacks and coffee go together. Please charge uniform GST for these items. The computer is getting stuck because of a lack of uniformities on GST slabs,” he added. However, Annapoorna apologized to Sitharaman in private later.

The conversation was recorded on video and then leaked by the BJP Tamil Nadu account on social media site X. “Please pardon me for my remarks,” Srinivas said. “I don’t have ties to any political party,” he added. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the DMK slammed the BJP over the apology.