With assets worth a whopping Rs 5,053 crore, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) latest entrant to the Rajya Sabha, industrialist Rajinder Gupta, is the second wealthiest member of the Upper House, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Given AAP's comfortable majority in the state assembly, Gupta was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Oct 18. Based on details of assets in his affidavit, ADR has claimed that Gupta is placed behind BRS MP Bandi Partha Saradhi (Rs 5,300 crore) as India's second wealthiest Rajya Sabha member.

Currently, there are nine AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha, and five of these have wealth over Rs 1 crore, according to ADR's data based on the affidavits filed by these candidates at the time of election. AAP already had two high-net-worth members in the Upper House — Vikramjit Singh Sahney (Rs 498 crore) and Sanjeev Arora (Rs 460 crore). Sahney is among the top 10 richest MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The seat fell vacant after Sanjeev Arora resigned from his Rajya Sabha membership following his election to the Punjab assembly in the Ludhiana West constituency bypoll.

"Gupta's nomination has triggered a political debate that strikes at the very roots of AAP's identity.

When the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party burst onto India's political stage in 2012, it carried the moral weight of street protests and the promise of clean politics. Born out of the anti-corruption movement, AAP positioned itself as the voice of the common man standing up against crony capitalism and entrenched political privilege. With Gupta's win, it now finds itself defending the induction of a billionaire industrialist into Parliament," said a press statement by ADR.

"Gupta's entry has surpassed all existing figures, placing him at the top of the bloc by a wide margin and takes the combined declared wealth of AAP's Rajya Sabha contingent to nearly Rs 6,200 crore, making it one of the wealthiest benches among national parties. With his candidature, AAP will have to justify its dramatic shift in the party's image from the self-styled party of ‘aam aadmi' to a party now dominated by corporate magnates," said the ADR.