Congress candidate for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency Venkatarame Gowda, also known as Star Chandru, has declared assets worth ₹237.11 crore in his name besides another ₹146.99 crore in his wife’s name.
In his affidavit submitted to Deputy Commissioner of Mandya at the time of filing his nomination on Monday, Mr. Venkatarame Gowda, aged 59 years, has shown movable assets worth ₹29.94 crore that also includes three tractors in his name while another ₹182.33 crore has been shown in the name of his spouse Krishne Gowda Kusuma including 4.2 kg of gold jewellery, 25.6 kg of silver articles and diamonds worth ₹15.08 lakh.
Sharing the details of immovable assets, Mr. Venkatarame Gowda has shown a total of 49 pieces of agricultural land with a market value of ₹26.08 crore, the market value of his non-agricultural land amounts to ₹99.36 crore. The market of his commercial buildings amounts to ₹80.72 crore.
The immovable assets in the name of his wife include five plots of agricultural land with a market value of ₹4.2 crore, non-agricultural land worth ₹90.29 crore and commercial buildings worth ₹36.39 crore.
Mr. Venkatarame Gowda has also shown liabilities amounting to ₹15.71 crore in his name and ₹2.21 crore in his wife’s name.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gowda submitted three sets of nomination papers to the Deputy Commissioner of Mandya, who is also the Election Officer for Mandya Lok Sabha constituency at his office in Mandya on Monday. He was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Minister for Agriculture N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Minister in charge of Mandya district, and Malavalli MLA P.M. Narendraswamy.
Mr Venkatarame Gowda was accompanied by a large number of supporters in an apparent show of strength while proceeding to file his nomination papers. He arrived in a procession from Kalikamba Temple to the Deputy Commissioner’s office in an open vehicle. The procession that accompanied him comprised folk artistes and drum beaters.
Addressing the gathering after submitting his nomination papers, Mr Gowda vowed not to make even a single rupee through politics. “God has blessed me with everything. I will not make a single rupee from politics”, he sought to assure the people before making it clear that he was entering politics to serve the people of Mandya.
Mandya MLA Ganiga Ravi, Srirangapatna MLA Ramesh Babu Bandisidde Gowda, Maddur MLA Uday, besides Hoskote MLA Sharath Bachchegowda, MLCs Dinesh Gooligowda and Madhu Made Gowda and others were also present on the occasion.
