Coimbatore’s popular hotel chain Annapoorna has issued a clarification after a video of their owner, D Srinivasan, apologising to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his remarks at a business forum, went viral and drew criticism from the opposition leaders. The hotel chain has clarified that Mr Srinivasan met the finance minister privately to address any misunderstandings.
Mr Srinivasan “met the Finance Minister privately under his own volition to ensure there is no misunderstanding or misrepresentation of facts. The video of this private meeting was inadvertently shared in social media which has caused a lot of misunderstanding and confusion,” said the statement.
The hotel chain also said that action has been taken against the maker of the video and that they would like everyone to move on from this episode. “We would like put to rest the unnecessary assumptions and political misunderstanding. We hope everybody understands that we would like to end this episode and move on.”
The clarification comes after a video showing Mr Srinivasan apparently apologising to Ms Sitharaman for his remarks at a business forum in Coimbatore made rounds on social media. The video sparked allegations that Mr Srinivasan, who is also the Honorary President of the Tamil Nadu Hoteliers Association, was forced to apologize to the Finance Minister after raising what many considered genuine concerns of the hotel industry at an official forum.
The video, believed to have been leaked by BJP’s Tamil Nadu functionaries, drew flak by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.
BJP’s Tamil Nadu Chief, K Annamalai, issued an apology on behalf of the BJP functionaries for sharing “a private conversation between a respected business owner and our Hon. FM.”
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…
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) September 13, 2024
In another video that went viral earlier, Mr Srinivasan can be heard urging Ms Sitharaman to keep the GST rates equal across all food categories as it causes practical difficulties. In the interaction that took place at a Coimbatore business forum, Mr Srinivasan highlighted the issues faced by hotel owners due to unequal GST on different food items.
“We have to give coffee and snacks to the same customers… but the GST differs for each. This creates chaos and daily there are fights…So, if you increase the GST then increase it for everything… let it be the same for all products,” he can be heard saying. Mr Srinivasan’s comments drew a light laughter from the fellow businessmen present at the forum and also drew a smile from Ms Sitharaman, who ensured that she would consider the issue.