BENGALURU: Of the 121 candidates in fray for the December 10 elections for 25 seats in the Legislative Council, many are crorepatis with their declared assets much higher than MLAs and ministers. If elected, Yusuf Shariff, who is contesting as the Congress candidate from Bengaluru, will be the richest legislator in the state with declared assets of over Rs 1,700 crore, much more than Minister M T B Nagaraj’s declared assets of over Rs 1,200 crore.
Most of the candidates claim to be from agricultural background, own factories or are into real estate business which is said to be the reason for their huge assets. They own large tracts agricultural land, a number of houses and apartments and fancy cars. A few are from political families including Pradeep Shettar (BJP), brother of former CM Jagadish Shettar, with declared assets of Rs 88.91 crore, while former minister H D Revanna’s son Dr Suraj Revanna has declared assets of Rs 61.6 crore.
Interestingly, Social Welfare Minister and sitting MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary has declared assets worth just Rs 1.4 crore, which is among the least. Congress candidate Yusuf Shariff, who has studied till Class 5, has assets worth Rs 1,741 crore including 4.5 kg of gold. He was once a scrap dealer and is now into real estate business. He owns many fancy cars including a Rolls Royce Phantom which once belonged to Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan.
“The IT Department searched my premises and concluded the assessment by levying a total of Rs 13.43 crore in IT dues. I have preferred an appeal before the Commissioner of the IT and it has been admitted, but is yet to be heard,” Shariff has declared in his affidavit. While JDS candidate Manjegowda from Mysuru owns eight high-end cars including a BMW, Audi and a Toyota Fortuner. The BJP candidate from Mandya, B C Manju, owns 50 vehicles including cars, lorries, jeeps and two-wheelers.
What They’re Worth
Yusuf Shariff Congress (Bengaluru) Rs 1741 crore
B Somashekar Congress (Chitradurga) Rs 116.1 crore
Pradeep Shettar BJP (Dharwad) Rs 88.91 crore
Suraj Revanna JDS (Hassan) Rs 61.6 crore
Dr BG Patil BJP (Kalaburagi) Rs 51.6 crore
N Appajigowda JDS (Mandya) Rs 37.45 crore