Hyderabad: Almost three in four members in the AP cabinet have criminal background, and one in three ministers face severe criminal charges, reveals an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The number of ministers with declared criminal background is more this time than in the previous cabinet. Also, the average wealth of AP ministers has increased by Rs 12.85 crore.
The ADR report, released on Tuesday, says 65 per cent of cabinet members in AP have criminal background, up from 56 per cent in the previous cabinet. The percentage of those facing severe criminal charges has increased from 22 in the previous cabinet to 35 per cent now. The average assets of ministers have also increased from Rs 22.40 crore in the previous cabinet to Rs 35.25 crore now.
In the present cabinet, as many as 17 of the 26 ministers — accounting for 65 per cent of the total cabinet strength — have declared criminal cases against themselves. Nine, or 35 per cent of the ministers, have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in the affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In terms of assets, 23 of the 26 ministers, or 88 per cent of the cabinet strength, are crorepatis with an average asset value of Rs 35.25 crore.
The ADR report said chief minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is the richest member of the state cabinet. He has the highest declared total assets of Rs 510.38 crore. His cabinet colleague Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy comes a distant second with a declared asset value of Rs 130 crore. The third richest minister in the cabinet is M Goutham Reddy, with declared assets of Rs 61 crore.
As many as 21 ministers analysed have declared liabilities. Ramachandra Reddy has declared his liabilities at Rs 20 crore, followed by Ch Sriranganadha Raju (Rs 12 crore) and M Srinivas (Rs 5 crore). Three out of 26 ministers have declared their total annual income above Rs 1 crore.
Eight (31%) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th standard, while 18 (69%) ministers have declared educational qualification of graduation or above. The ADR report said 12 (46%) ministers have declared their age to be between 31 and 50 years, while 14 (54%) ministers said they are between 51 and 70 years old.
There is no change in the number of women ministers in the state cabinet when compared to their strength in the previous government.