Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Aug 6: As per the list of richest ministers prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Karnataka gets dubious distinction of having highest number of ultra rich ministers, five of them finding their names in the top ten list.
Another fact the state has to be 'proud' of is that D K Shivakumar is the second richest minister in the country behind Ponguru Narayana, minister of Andhra Pradesh. As far as loans and liabilities are concerned, Shivakumar ranks first.
As per the list of 620 ministers spread over 29 states prepared by the said organization, Shivakumar, with properties worth Rs 251 crore, is ranked second in the country. He has loans a liabilities worth Rs 105 crore, and therefore his net assets stand at Rs 146 crore.
Santosh Lad (assets Rs 186 crore - third place), M R Seetharam (Rs 136 crore - sixth place), and R V Deshpande (Rs 138 crore - 8th place) and Pramod Madhwaraj (Rs 105 crore - tenth place) are the other ministers to hog the limelight.
Ponguru Narayana however, is way ahead of others with assets worth Rs 496 crore as per this list.
"The state with the highest average assets per minister is Andhra Pradesh (20 ministers) with average assets of Rs 45.49 crores, followed by Karnataka (31 ministers) with average assets of Rs 36.96 crores and Arunachal Pradesh (7 ministers) with average assets of Rs 32.62 crores.
"All state council of ministers analyzed from Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Puducherry are 100% crorepatis. They are followed by 97% of ministers of Karnataka and 92% of ministers from Rajasthan, Goa, Meghalaya and Chhattisgarh who have also declared assets valued at Rs 1 crore and above," the report states.