LS, a club house for the super-rich and powerful?
April 07, 2009: CNN-IBN
New Delhi: Has the Lok Sabha become an exclusive club of the super-rich and the powerful? If the affidavits of personal wealth submitted for the first round of elections are any indicator, it seems you need to be a crorepati before you can be an MP.
Lottery baron MK Subba, is the Congress MP from Tezpur. He says he owns 11 flats around Delhi, has over Rs 560 crore in cash and in banks and a whopping Rs 100 crore LIC policy.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has assets worth over Rs 125 crore. He owns a hotel chain and construction businesses, and has been accused of being close to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Supriya Sule, NCP candidate from Baramati, has assets worth Rs 52 crore. She is in fact richer than her father, Sharad Pawar. And strangely, neither of them owns a car.
But the BSP candidate from Pune, DS Kulkarni, has Rs 29 crore and 29 cars!
Andhra Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jaganmohan Reddy has declared assets worth Rs 77 crore. But some allege there may be more, pointing to his links with Satyam founder and fraudster Ramalinga Raju.
In comparision, Sonia and Rahul Ganahi are poor. Sonia has assets worth Rs 1.3 crore, but owns no car or house in India.
Rahul Gandhi’s assets are worth Rs 2.25 crores. He owns 2 farmhouses around Delhi but again, no car!
The declared wealth of candidates to the Lok Sabha has grown by 400 per cent since 2002.
