BENGALURU: Energy minister D K Shivakumar, who filed his nomination on Thursday from the Kanakapura constituency, has shown a staggering rise in his assets. A powerful Vokkaliga leader, Shivakumar declared total assets, including his and his family members, of around Rs 840 crore. In the 2013 assembly elections, he had reported assets of Rs. 251 crore for his family. This means that in the past five years, he has acquired assets of around Rs. 600 crore.
In his 87-page affidavit, the minister said he had moveable assets of Rs. 70 crore and immovable assets of Rs. 548 crore. In 2013, his moveable assets stood at Rs. 46 crore while his immovable assets were worth Rs. 169 crore.
Total liabilities for his family stand at around Rs 220 crore while his daughter Aishwarya's liabilities are Rs. 81 crore and assets at Rs. 107 crore.
Shivakumar is under the I-T department radar following searches at various properties linked to him on August 2 last year when he had hosted 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort on the city outskirts to forestall BJP's alleged poaching attempts ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls there.
On Thursday, BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa filed his papers from Shikaripura constituency. Interestingly, while Yeddyurappa had declared assets worth around Rs. 6 crore in the 2014 general elections which he contested, this year, his assets value seems to have dropped to around Rs. 5.5 crore.
Another candidate, K Manjegowda, a former government servant contesting on a Congress ticket from Holenarsipura, filed his nomination and declared assets worth Rs. 12.3 crore. Manjegowda, who opted for voluntary retirement, has a disproportionate assets case pending against him.