For the third consecutive year, Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu declared his assets putting it at modest Rs. 42.06 lakh as on March 31 this year, up by Rs. 10.09 lakh compared to last year.
His assets included his Jubilee Hills residence here worth Rs. 23.20 lakh, an Ambassador car, Rs. 1.52 lakh, balances in Savings Bank Accounts to the tune of Rs. 17.33 lakh. This balance had risen by about Rs. 10 lakh, the only change this year. Like the previous two years, he has also declared the assets of his family members all of which including his own, add up to Rs. 41.70 crore now, against Rs. 35.59 crore in 2012 and Rs. 38 crore in 2011.
The TDP president said his wife Bhuvaneswari owned assets worth Rs. 33.05 crore up by about Rs. 8 crore compared to last year. She heads the family business venture Heritage Foods Limited. His son, Lokesh’s assets are valued at 4.92 crore, down from Rs. 6.62 crore last year. The assets of his daughter- in-law Brahmani have shot up to Rs. 3.30 crore from Rs. 2.09 crore last year.
Setting an example
Mr. Naidu started declaring his assets from 2011 in the wake of Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption, saying he wanted to set an example for other political leaders to show that “we are accountable to people and we should bring transparency in public life.”
He clarified that the value of the family assets was acquisition cost and not market value as it varied from time to time and threw a challenge at his rivals to prove that he and his family owned more than the declared assets. “I will transfer it to their names”.
He said Heritage Foods was functioning in a transparent and ethical manner recording a growth of 14.96 per cent in the last financial year.
