BANGALORE : Among the members of the Narendra Modi cabinet, railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda's assets have shown the highest increase in five months, according to information published on Friday by the National Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms.
In the declaration of assets and liabilities by the Union council of ministers to the PMO, he declared Rs 20.35 crore, an increase of Rs 10.46 crore compared to Rs 9.88 crore in the April-May 2014 Lok Sabha polls, according to a joint statement by the NEW and ADR.The assets of at least two other ministers have increased after they took office five months ago. However, 16 ministers have shown a decrease in assets.
Minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises P Radhakrishnan's assets have shown an increase of Rs 2.98 crore, while finance minister Arun Jaitley an increase of Rs 1.01 crore. Sadananda Gowda, contesting from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency, declared immoveable property worth Rs 3.96 crore and moveable assets of Rs 4.15 crore. This included gold, silver ornaments and bank deposits. He declared his wife Datty had moveable wealth at over Rs 58 lakh and immoveable property at Rs 1.18 crore. His declared income for 2012-13 was Rs 19.53 lakh and his wife's income Rs 14.85 lakh. According to the organizations, 41 or 91% of the ministers are crorepatis.
Jaitely is the richest at Rs 114.03 crore, followed by Harsimrat Kaur Badal at Rs 108.31 crore and Piyush Goyal at Rs 94.66 crore. Assets of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj have shown a decrease of Rs 3.89 crore, from Rs 17.55 crore declared in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The NEW and ADR''s joint statement said the cause of changes in assets was largely due to the lack of any standardized format for ministers' asset declarations.