Indian politicians beat IMF, own tons of gold

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NEW DELHI: At a time when the world is witnessing a gold rush and recession, India is in the middle of a general election which itself will pump in around Rs 10,000 crore into the economy. Gold has been a major part of the assets of candidates in this election.

But, one interesting feature of India’s elections is that all the candidates will have to declare their assets before the Election Commission in an affidavit. If you check some of the candidates’ assets you can find some interesting factors about their gold possessions.

One glance at the affidavits will make you wonder that with these much gold in their possession they will be having more gold than the IMF has.

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Lok Sabha elections are no longer a poor man’s playground and this statement is getting vindicated everyday during the ongoing nominations when candidates are coming out with mind-boggling financial revelations. Election Commission has made it mandatory for each candidate contesting Lok Sabha elections to reveal his/her financial worth to public.

Check out a few candidates’ gold possessions and you will understand that the yellow metal is a favourite of almost all candidates.

Richest candidate in the Lok Sabha (LS) race Khimji Patadia, who contests from Rajkot, is worth Rs 514 crore, mainly in jewellery and realty.

Patadia is a Mumbai-based businessman. He surpasses the richest of candidates like the Congress’s L Rajagopal from Vijaywada (Rs 299 crore), the BSP’s Karan Singh Tanwar from South Delhi (Rs 150 crore) and the SP’s Abu Azmi from Mumbai NW (Rs 122 crore).

Patadia is founder of the little-known Krantikari Jaihind Sena. As per his affidavit, Patadia owns 1.5 kg of gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 250 crore.

Then BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, who contests from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, has over 3 crore assets and he and his wife own gold jewellery worth Rs 16 lakh.

Another star in this contest of welth is BJP’s golden boy — Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, who contests from Bidar constituency. He owns a mobile phone worth Rs 15 lakh and his watch is worth Rs 5 lakh.

Nagamarapalli, a five-time MLA and four-time minister, only recently migrated from the Congress to BJP and is testing the waters to enter Parliament

His mobile phone, specially made in the US, is covered in gold. He has a diamond-studded Rolex to match the three diamond rings he wears all the time. Add a bracelet and gold-framed spectacles, and you have quite a sparkling character.

Nagamarapalli owns 91 kg of silver and 2.8 kg of gold.

BJP candidate from Kanpur Satish Mahana is worth Rs 12.79 lakh with jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh in it. Jewellery is almost 35 per cent of his assets. His wife has jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh.

BSP candidate Sukhda Mishra from Kanpur has gold worth Rs 5 lakh. SP candidate Surendra Mohan Agrawal owns gold worth Rs 13.20 lakh.

SP’s Kamlesh Pathak contesting elections from Akbarpur seat has gold worth Rs 1.60 lakh.

In Udupi, Congress candidate K. Jayaprakash Hegde has total assets worth Rs. 2.29 crore. He has jewellery worth Rs 22,000, while his wife has jewellery worth Rs. 6.38 lakh. BJP candidate DV Sadananda Gowda has assets worth Rs. 1.05 crore. He has jewellery worth Rs 75,000.