The rich and the powerful in the United Democratic Front (UDF) government appear to occupy almost the same pecking order when it comes to the wealth of Ministers declared on the government website on Saturday.
Leading the pack are Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty, Health Minister Adoor Prakash, Panchayat and Social Welfare Minister M.K. Muneer, Food Minister T.M. Jacob, Finance Minister K.M. Mani, Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar and Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, though it is hard to say exactly where each stands.
Bringing up the rear in terms of wealth is debutante Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Tribes P.K. Jayalakshmy.
While she has very little to declare, Water Resources Minister P. J. Joseph appears to have nothing but some land and two cars as assets.
Since the market value of land holdings is not mentioned against assets held by the Ministers, it is hard to make any quick assessment of the real value of wealth owned by each or rank them in terms of wealth owned by each.
Making things more difficult, not all Ministers have chosen to declare the assets in the names of their children. However, in terms of the extent of land holdings held, the top names in the government are way ahead of the rest.
Interestingly, Congress Ministers have relatively less wealth as compared to their counterparts from the other coalition partners, save Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed who has declared wealth in excess of Rs.1 crore.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is by far the most Spartan among the members of the UDF Cabinet.
As on August 25, the date up to which the assets of UDF Ministers have been updated, he had 38 grams of gold, Rs.1,967 in his savings bank account with Canara Bank, Rs.11,000 with HDFC Bank and Rs.12,439 in his Treasury Savings Bank account.
He also has 60 shares of State Bank of India (SBI) and 900 shares of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) plus 540 IDBI bonus shares.
The Chief Minister's wife has 30 sovereigns of gold and 13.25 cents of land with house in Thiruvananthapuram besides a deposit of Rs. 8 lakh in a private non-banking finance company and Rs. 47,332 in her savings bank account with Canara Bank. She has another deposit of Rs.9,99,784 with Canara Bank, but with an overdraft liability of Rs.8,89,416.
She owns a sedan, but has a loan liability of Rs. 3,22,759 on it.
The Chief Minister's son has a deposit of Rs. 3 lakh with a NBFC and small sums in savings bank accounts, but is burdened with an education loan of Rs.4,04,523.
All that Ms. Jayalakshmy has are 15 acres of land and 25 sovereigns of gold in her father's name and 5 sovereigns of gold and Rs. 2 lakh in deposit. Her party colleague Mr. Prakash has nearly 35 land holdings of different dimensions, mostly in Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, in his own and in the name of other family members besides 3,190 grams of gold commonly owned by the family and a share in the family businesses. He has not declared his cash holdings.
Kunhalikutty
Mr. Kunhalikutty too has nine different land holdings of different dimensions, mostly in Malappuram district besides Rs. 18,84,332 in a joint account with his wife with SBI, Malappuram, another Rs. 12,73,710 in a joint account with his wife in IndusInd Bank, Malappuram (received from his daughter), Rs. 4,26,847 in treasury savings bank account and another Rs.1.60 lakh with the Oorakam Service Cooperative Bank under different accounts. His wife has a fixed deposit of Rs. 68 lakh with HDFC Bank and around Rs. 9.5 lakh in two savings bank accounts with the same bank, besides two sedans and 850 grams of gold. She also has Rs. 2.92 lakh in a savings bank account with Catholic Syrian Bank, Malappuram, besides two fixed deposits totalling Rs. 6.5 lakh with SBT, Sulthan Bathery, to list a few of her assets.
Mr. Mani has declared 7 land holdings, all but two in his own name and roughly Rs. 15 lakh in savings deposits in his own and his wife's name, but has left out the assets owned by his children.
Mr. Jacob has 77.54 acres of land in Thirumaradi Village of Ernakulam district spread over 19 holdings, 10 of them jointly with his wife, plus two more in the State capital.
He has only Rs. 30,000 in hand, but has close to Rs. 4 lakh in various savings bank accounts. He also has shares in Federal Bank and roughly Rs. 15 lakh in various insurance policies.
Mr. Muneer's land assets are mostly in Kozhikode and his wealth is reflected in his investments in Indiavision Satellite Communications Ltd (shares worth Rs. 6.01 lakh in his own and Rs. 0.10 lakh in his wife's name), Olive Publications (Rs. 15.90 lakh in his and Rs. 1.36 lakh in his wife's name), C. H. Memorial Hospital (Rs. 2.6 lakh in his own and Rs. 0.68 lakh in his wife's name), SIMS Medical Centre India (Pvt) Limited (Rs.90,000 in his and Rs. 20,000 in his wife's name), Span Institute of Medical Sciences (Rs.3.50 lakhs in his and Rs. 1 lakh in his wife's name) and Indiavision Telecasting Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd (Rs. 0.75 lakhs in his and Rs. 0.20 lakh in his wife's name).
Mr. Ganesh Kumar has 13 land holdings and buildings, all but three of them in his own name, 1,200 grams of gold, one male tusker and three vehicles besides several insurance policies.
Mr. Shibu Baby John has 7 land holdings, mostly in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam and his investments are mostly in family-run companies. He has four cars, Rs. 20,68,804 in one savings bank account, Rs. 1,83,817 in treasury savings bank account in the capital and another Rs. 1,95,115 in the treasury savings account in Kollam, shares in JSW Energy (total market value Rs. 3,26,475), Reliance Industries (Rs.2,35,597) and SBI (Rs. 3,96,592). He has declared total liabilities of Rs. 1,16,24,924, including a private loan of Rs. 1,05,00,000.
