Allegations of being humilated by Nirmala Sitharaman: Kovai Restaurant seeks to put the matter at rest

Chennai: After its owner was allegedly humiliated by senior BJP leader and Union Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman at a event in Coimbatore two days back during an inter-action on GST, which had led to a controversy, the Restaurant has sought to put the matter to rest.

As the video of the incident went viral, leaders of various parties, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Party President Mallikarjuna Kharge, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin, Opposition AIADMK and allies of the ruling DMK condemned the incident.

Mr Rahul cited the interaction to lash out at the central government over GST and said that a simplified GST with a single tax rate would solve the problems of lakhs of businesses.

"When the owner of a small business, like Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore, asks our public servants for a simplified GST regime, his request is met with arrogance and outright disrespect", he posted in X.

Mr Kharge termed the disgraceful humiliation of a small businessman, the owner of Sree Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore by the Finance Minister and the BJP, smacks of arrogance of power. She has been a repeated offender in such public interactions,” he said.

Mr Stalin termed it as a shameful incident.

Responding to a query from reporters, Mr Stalin said Ms Nirmala had handled the situation in a shameful manner.

As the incident triggered a row, Annapoorna, in a statement on Saturday evening clarifying the situation, said its Managing Director D Srinivasan raised the issue of different GST rates for different production in restaurants and bakeries on Thursday.

It said the video of this private interaction was inadvertently shared in social media which has caused a lot of misunderstanding and confusion.