Among BJP leaders who campaigning in Coimbatore South for candidate Vanathi Srinivasan is the party’s youth wing president and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya. On April 2, Surya who campaigned in Coimbatore, tweeted that he had dined at popular restaurant chain Sree Annapoorna in Coimbatore, where he had to “insist upon paying” for his breakfast.
Taking a dig at the DMK party, he wrote, “Today after breakfast at a restaurant, I naturally went to pay. Cashier hesitated to accept money. With great hesitation he accepted after insistence. I told him that we are from BJP. A party that respects all and protects all. Not DMK to do roll-call even from small businesses.” There have been reports of DMK cadres allegedly vandalizing restaurants and roughing up persons for asking to pay their bills.
Later, Surya made the anecdote a part of his speech as well, stressing that he came forward to pay his bill.
“Dear Tejasvi Surya, we are glad to have served you at our restaurant. At Annapoorna we greet everyone with the same love and gratitude, in fact everyone comes forward to pay their bills. No one has forced us for anything free. As a token of love and respect we sometimes refrain from taking money from people who work for our society,” the restaurant’s Facebook post reads.
This exchange got many appreciating Annapoorna’s response on social media.
(This story was first published on TNM and has been republished in an arrangement.)
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