Hyderabad, Oct 5 (IANS): Former Telangana minister and BJP candidate for Huzurabad bypoll Eatala Rajender and his wife Eatala Jamuna have combined wealth of over Rs 35 crore but she is richer than him.
This was revealed in the affidavit submitted by Jamuna to the election authorities while filing her nomination for the October 30 bypoll to the Assembly seat.
Jamuna, who had been campaigning with her husband for the last few weeks, filed her papers on behalf of the BJP. According to party sources this has been done as a precautionary measure in case Rajender is arrested before the elections.
Rajender was dropped from the State Cabinet in May by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao following allegations that he encroached on the lands of some farmers in Medak district for the poultry business owned by his wife, son and other family members.
The state government also ordered two probes against Rajender for allegedly encroaching farmers' lands in Medak district and endowment lands in Medchal Malkajgiri district.
He had later resigned from ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and also quit from Assembly. Rajender joined BJP in June.
Rajender's wife on Monday filed her nomination for Huzurabad bypoll. The 56-year-old, who has studied up to Class 12, is a businesswoman.
Jamuna stated in her affidavit that her annual income was Rs 1,33,40,372, while that of her husband was Rs 30,16,592.
According to the affidavit, she has movable assets of over Rs 28.68 crore, but her husband owns movable assets of only Rs 6.20 lakh.
Jamuna's movable assets include two Innova vehicles while Rajender has no vehicle in his name. She also has 1,500 grams of gold jewelry worth Rs 50 lakh. She has given personal loans/advances to the tune of Rs 23.23 crore.
Her immovable assets are worth Rs 4.89 crore while Rajender owns immovable assets of Rs 3.62 crore.
Jamuna's liabilities are Rs 4.89 crore while that of her husband are Rs 3.62 crore.
Meanwhile, Rajender alleged that if the Huzurabad bypoll was conducted in a free and fair manner, the TRS would not even get its security deposit back.
He alleged that the ruling party has spent Rs 4,700 crore to win the bypoll. He also alleged that Chief Minister KCR is hatching plans at Pragathi Bhavan, while Finance Minister T. Harish Rao is implementing them.
Rajender is likely to file his nomination in a day or two. The constituency is likely to see a three-cornered contest.
TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav has already filed the nomination while Congress party has named Balamoor Venkat as its candidate.
As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India last week, the last date for filing of nominations is October 8.
Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on October 11. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 13. Polling will be held on October 30 while counting will be taken up on November 2. The entire poll process has to be completed by November 5.