M for money, M for MLA. When Congress MP from Haryana Birender Singh claimed that Rajya Sabha seats were on sale for Rs 100 crore each, he may have been alluding to the power money plays in the electoral politics of his home state and its neighbours. In Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, crorepatis are a dime a dozen with hundreds taking up the role of lawmakers in their respective regions.
The numbers tell their own tale. Out of 117 legislators in Punjab Assembly, as many as 101, a staggering 86 per cent, are worth much more than a crore each. Next door in Haryana, the picture is just as minty. In the 90 member Haryana Assembly, 65 legislators are crorepatis while in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh House, 44 MLAs are certified millionaires.
In 2007, there were 77 legislators in the Punjab House. Before the 2012 elections to elect the present House, 37.7 per cent of the 1,000 odd candidates declared assets of Rs 5 crore or above, while only a measly 5.8 per cent were worth between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
As far as Punjab crorepatis are concerned, most of the heavyweights owe allegiance to SAD and Congress, with the former boasting 47 of the uber rich members and Congress 41 of them. Ten are from the BJP while all three Independent MLAs are members of the Crorepati Club.
The average assets of a Punjab MLA is Rs 9.92 crore, Congress MLAs topped the chart with Rs 13.97 crore. At Rs 7.93 crore, SAD came second, with BJP members at an average worth Rs 4.68 crore.
Strangely enough, Congress MLA from Muktsar Karan Kaur, who is worth Rs 128.43 crore, is the richest among the legislators, but has apparently never filed income tax returns.
The second richest is Shiromani Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who is worth Rs 90 crore, followed by industrialist and Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon whose assets are worth Rs 78 crore.
Towards the top of the rich list are Rana Gurjit Singh of the Congress (Rs 61 crore) and Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, son-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Badal (Rs 58 crore). Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is worth Rs 45 crore as is his close aide and Dhuri MLA Arvind Khanna. While Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur Sidhu of BJP (wife of Amritsar MP Navjot Sidhu) is worth Rs 22 crore and Sunder Sham Arora of the Congress is worth Rs 21 crore, Ramanjit Singh Sikki of the Congress has assets worth over Rs 20.12 crore.
Gurpartap Singh Wadala of the SAD (Rs 13 crore), Bhram Mohindra of Congress (Rs 6 crore), Charanjit Kaur Bajwa (wife of Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa) worth Rs 5 crore, Virsa Singh Valtoha and Naseer Khatoon both of SAD worth Rs 1 crore each.
Among the 10 MLAs with the least assets, nine belong to the Scheduled Caste category.
BJP MLA from Bhoa Seema Devi with assets of Rs 2 lakh is the poorest among the state’s legislators and she is followed Chetan Singh Samoan, who is worth Rs 6 lakh. Harchan Kaur of Congress and Harpreet Singh of SAD have assets worth Rs 29 lakh each.
The richest legislator in Haryana is Congress’ Venod Sharma from Ambala City with assets to the tune of Rs 87 crore.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, 26 Congress, 13 BJP and four Independent MLAs are crorepatis.
The Congress MLA from Palampur, B B Butail, is worth Rs 169 crore, followed by Independent MLA from Chopal Balbir Verma with assets of Rs 41 crore, Congress MLA from Doon, Ram Kumar Chaudhary has assets of Rs 36 crore and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is worth Rs 33 crore.
The Sunday Standard