New Delhi: Annapoorna Srinivasan, who raised questions about varying price rates of commodities and their GST rates to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, reportedly apologized to the minister, according to The Free Press Journal.
Annapoorna Srinivasan, owner of Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore, gained wide attention after he had raised the matter during an interaction with the minister when she was in the city recently.
Annapoorna Srinivasan expanded on the subject giving an anecdote about bun in a bakery, adding that the bun has a particular GST rate and the cream inside the bun has another rate.
Now a video emerged online showed Annapoorna Srinivasan was seen meeting the FM and conveying his 'apology.'
He reportedly said "I do not belong to any party, please excuse me".
Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi quickly reacted to the video taking to X saying owner of a small business Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore asked the public servant for ‘a simplified GST regime’, his request was met with ‘arrogance and outright disrespect’.
Gandhi added that ‘ Yet, when a billionaire friend seeks to bend the rules, change the laws, or acquire national assets, Modi Ji rolls out the red carpet.’
Meanwhile, BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai, has issued an apology after the video of the Annapoorna Srinivasan’s interaction with the minister went viral, The News Minute reported.
His response came as the opposition alleged that Srinivasan was forced to apologise and the BJP made the video public in order to humiliate him.
Apologizing on behalf of the BJP Tamil Nadu, Annamalai said his party functionaries shared a private conversation between the business owner and the minister.