At the auction, the base price of the garment was Rs 11 lakh. It was sold to Laljibhai Patel, a diamond merchant and the owner of a private airline based in Surat. Patel had told The Indian Express that he would have bought the suit even if it had cost him more than Rs 5 crore. "It's a matter of pride that a suit worn by Narendra Modi will now be mine," he had said, according to NDTV.
A number of other items Modi received since becoming the prime minister were sold at the auction. The amount was used to fund the prime minister's drive to clean River Ganga.
Modi had worn the suit during a meeting with United States President Barack Obama in January. It was after he wore this suit that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government began to be referred to as "suit-boot ki sarkar", especially by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
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