Surat auction: Modi's suit steals the show, T-shirt gifted by Brett Lee ignored

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pin-striped suit is hogging all the limelight at a Surat auction but the humble Cricket Australia T-shirt gifted to him by bowling great Brett Lee is getting the cold shoulder.

While a diamond trader from Bhavnagar has offered a staggering Rs 1.41 crore for the navy blue suit Modi wore during his meeting with the US President Barack Obama last month, the bids for Lee’s T-shirt range between a measly Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000.

“People are only looking for Modi suit. There is a T-shirt of Brett Lee gifted by Cricket Australia just beside the suit, but the bids for it are very low,” said a member of the organising committee. “About 40 to 50 people have placed bids ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for the T-shirt that Brett Lee gifted Modi during the latter’s visit to Australia in November last year,” he said, showing the written bids of a handful of interested people.

A Surat-based diamond trader Mukesh Patel, who made a bid of Rs 1.39 crore for Modi’s suit, said he is not interested in buying the yellow Cricket Australia T-shirt. “I am not interested in buying the T-shirt. I want to purchase that historical suit only as it created a hype in the media. If I buy the T-shirt, I will be tempted to wear it. How can I wear it?” Patel told PTI.

Another T-shirt that Modi received as gift during his Brazil visit after the football World Cup has also failed to attract many prospective buyers with bids ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000. About 40 youngsters have evinced interest in the T-shirts and placed bids, according to records available at the registration desk at the auction.

PTI