Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar (file photo)
Bengaluru: D K Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, tops the list of India’s richest MLAs with assets worth ₹ 1,413 crore.
The report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that the poorest MLA is from West Bengal having not so much as Rs 2000 to his name, NDTV reported.
Karnataka can boast of having two other MLAs topping the list with the second being KH Puttaswamy Gowda, an independent MLA who has assets worth ₹ 1,267 crore.
The next in the line-up on the list of the richest is Priya Krishna of the Congress, who has ₹ 1,156 crore.
Reacting to the list, Shivakumar reportedly said ‘I am not the richest. These are assets that I have acquired over a long period. My money is in the name of an individual, and I have kept it that way. I am not the richest, and I'm not poor.’
Notably, four of the first top ten in the list are from the Congress, and three belong to the BJP, which has triggered conversation surrounding the rich taking over the political space.
The Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad threw his weight behind Shivakumar asking if there is anything wrong about businessmen like Shivakumar entering politics, and alleged that there MLAs involved in mining scams in the BJP.
Senior Karnataka BJP leader Suresh Kumar hit back saying that the Congress loves the rich, adding ‘Justice has been delivered to those in our party who were involved in mining scams. The Congress loves rich people’.
Former BJP leader Gali Janardhan Reddy, the mining baron who had floated his own party last year, is the 23rd on the list of richest MLAs.
Nirmal Kumar Dhara, a BJP MLA from West Bengal, is found to be the poorest on the list as his declared assets are just ₹ 1,700.
The Independent MLA from Odisha, Makaranda Muduli with ₹ 15,000 follows Nirmal Kumar Dhara and AAP MLA Narinder Pal Singh Sawna has a declared asset of 18,370.