An MLA need not belong to the ruling party for his wealth to grow. For, the person with the highest increase in assets in the last five years is Kanakapura MLA from Congress D K Shivakumar, whose party has not been in power since 2008.
According to figures worked out by non-governmental organisations Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Shivakumar’s wealth increased by a whopping `175.91 crore from 2008 to 2013. The KEW/ADR figures, however, do not include liabilities.
The top 10 among 179 MLAs running for re-elction studied by KEW/ADR include just three ruling party legislators. The average increase among the top 10 is `89.69 crore. All the top three slots are occupied by Congress legislators. Real estate king M Krishnappa’s son Priya Krishna, the Govindarajanagar MLA, is in the second place with an increase of `143.36 crore, followed by minelord Santosh S Lad, the Kalghatgi MLA, whose increase is `124.85 crore.
KEW and ADR put the average increase in assets of all 179 MLAs at `9.28 crore (from `10.59 crore to `19.87 core) or 88 per cent. But if the top 10 and the bottom eight are taken out, the average increase is `4.4 crore.
Eight legislators are in the red, in terms of decrease in assets. The one who has lost the most is Higher Education Minister C T Ravi, with a loss of `4.25 crore. This is followed by Bhadravathi MLA B K Sangameshwara of the Congress, with `4.17 crore. The third place goes to BJP legislator Dr Sarvabhouma Bagali from Indi.
Intriguingly, both JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita, have shown an increase of `98 crore each. In terms of sheer wealth, however, none can match Priya Krishna (29) whose total wealth is listed as `910.98 crore.
The KEWADR analysis is incomplete as information was not available for the other 40 sitting MLAs who are in the fray. “We have considered only those MLAs whose assets details were available on the EC website. A few have been left out,” a member of Karnataka Election Watch said. The report indicated that criminal cases may not be an impediment to a political career. The analysis does not cover many cases filed since 2008.