Tamil Nadu: Annamalai Apologises After BJP Faces Backlash For Annapoorna Hotel Owner's Apology To Nirmala Sitharaman

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu state president K Annamalai today (13 September) expressed his regret after the party received immense backlash over a video of Annapoorna hotel owner Srinivasan apologising to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his speech about the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The video, was posted by a BJP functionary, Balaji MS, who is the state convenor of the party's social media cell. While the post has been deleted, the video can be seen here.

Speaking about the difficulties in the GST system, Srinivasan had said, “There is 5 per cent GST on sweets but 12 per cent on savouries, and 18 per cent on cream-filled buns, whereas there is no GST on buns! Customers often complain, saying, ‘Just give me the bun, I’ll add the cream and jam myself.” 

Further, referring to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, he said, “.....I have only one issue. The MLA amma sitting beside you, a regular Annapoorna customer, whenever she comes, she picks up a fight in the shop. You have kept GST at five per cent for sweets, giving input (input credit) for it, five per cent for food but not giving input, 12 per cent for savouries.

"Next, if you see in the bakery, bread and bun are same. All other things have different rates, going upto 28 per cent. This amma comes, eats jalebi, then says give coffee and karam (savouries). When we say the rate is 12 per cent for savouries, she comes for a fight. This problem happens with me daily. It is difficult to put different GST rates in a bill for the same family..."

"Please increase it (GST rate) uniformly for everything. Secondly, this MLA amma, is from our constituency. She said in the North of India, they are eating too many sweets, so the GST has been fixed at 5 per cent and 12 per cent for savouries. I said no. In Tamil Nadu, we call it sweet, karam, coffee (sweets, savouries, and coffee). So please consider it, madam; please make it uniform.”

He added that computers crash due to the different rates being levied on each item. “The computer crashes when we try to input different GST percentages in a single bill. Even the GST officials are confused, as all items have the same input but different tax rates. This inconsistency is causing issues for both shopkeepers and customers.”

In his post on X, 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.“