Kolar MLA and Minister for Textiles Varthur Prakash has declared the total value of his movable and immoveable properties at Rs. 29.92 lakh. According to an affidavit submitted along with the nomination papers by Mr. Prakash, his wife stands richer than him.
An engineering graduate from the Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, Mr. Prakash filed the nomination paper as an Independent candidate from the Kolar Assembly constituency on April 10, the opening day for the process. He contested the 2008 elections as an Independent from Kolar.
As per the declaration, Mr. Prakash had a income of Rs. 2,67,900 last year. He has Rs. 86,317 in savings bank (SB) account of Vijaya Bank’s Varthur branch and Rs. 10,000 in the SB account in Kolar branch of SyndicateBank. At present, the Minister has cash of Rs. 97,454 while his investments in shares, according to the details furnished in the affidavit, are Rs. 2,80,000.
Mr. Prakash, a social worker, according to the declaration, owns an Innova car worth Rs. 9 lakh and possesses 480 gm gold valued at Rs. 13,44,000 and one kg of silver worth Rs. 1 lakh. The value of the furniture owned by Mr. Prakash is Rs. 1,75,000.
The affidavit says he has no criminal cases against him.
According to the details furnished in the affidavit, Shyamala, Mr. Prakash’s wife, is richer than him. Ms. Shyamala owns movable and immovable properties worth Rs. 36,50,850.
DA case
It may be noted here that a private complaint was filed before the Special Lokayukta Court against Mr. Prakash recently, accusing him of submitting false affidavits to the Election Commission during 2008 Assembly elections and the Lokayukta later on. Mr. Prakash owns properties running to several crores of rupees which is disproportionate to the known sources of income as revealed to the Lokayukta, the complainant, M. Shankare Gowda of Kolar, said.
The assets affidavit filed along with the nomination papers this time around does not reflect the details Mr. Prakash furnished in his annual property declaration submitted to the Lokayukta. There is a huge gap between the value of assets declared in the affidavit and the declaration submitted to the Lokayukta. Stating that the MLA owned a palatial house in Varthur, 36 acres of land on the Kolar-Bangalore highway as well as a house worth Rs. 5 crore in Dollar Colony, Bangalore, the complainant has sought a full-fledged inquiry into the properties owned by Mr. Prakash.
‘It’s a ploy’
Mr. Prakash, however, has rubbished the complaint as a conspiracy against him by political foes. “It is a ploy to malign me during the elections,” he reacted when the complaint was filed against him.
