Whether they nurtured the turfs that elected them to the State Assembly in 2008 or not, there is no doubt that most of the outgoing MLAs tended their own nest eggs exceptionally well.
Now 179 of them are back in the fray, each richer by an average of Rs. 9.27 crore or 88 per cent in the last five years, their ‘mission’ apparently unaccomplished.
Note the way the wealth of some of the re-contesting MLAs has zoomed as their mandatory declarations show and as analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms-Karnataka Election Watch:
Outgoing Congress MLA for Kanakapura D.K. Shivakumar tops the Midas charts, followed by two more party colleagues — Priya Krishna and Santosh Lad.
Up-scale
As many as 57 Congress MLAs, although out of power, reported an average asset rise of Rs. 13 crore (60 per cent) each. The Janata Dal (Secular) has reported an average increase of Rs. 11 crore (198 per cent) in assets of each of its MLAs.
For the Bharatiya Janata Party, its 73 MLAs became 132 per cent richer at an average increase of Rs. 6 crore each.
Other notables are Appachu Ranjan of BJP (Madikeri) whose assets have grown from Rs. 18.2 lakh to Rs.10.65 crore, excluding the undeclared value of his six vehicles, jewellery and immoveable property; and S. Raghu, also of BJP, (C.V. Raman Nagar) from 72.8 lakh to Rs. 31.64 crore in five years.
Reverse flow?
There are exceptions too. C.T. Ravi, B.K. Sangameshwar and Bagali Sarvabhoum are among eight MLAs who said their assets fell below what they owned in 2008, observed founder member of ADR and National Election Watch, Trilochan Sastry, at a news conference here on Tuesday.
According to the 2013 affidavit filed before the State Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Ravi has declared 54 per cent drop in his wealth from Rs. 7.85 crore in 2008 to Rs. 3.59 crore. Dr. Sarvabhoum is down to Rs. 3.94 crore (earlier Rs. 8.02 crore) and Mr. Sangameshwar from Rs. 5.83 crore to Rs. 1.66 crore.
Criminal records
The ADR-EW team said that this year, 42 of the 48 MLAs with criminal records have returned to the polls.
