Richest Candidates in Fray Faces Stiff Competition

The richest candidates — both from BJP and Congress — who declared assets worth thousands of crores are facing stiff competition from opponents in their respective constituencies in Karnataka.

Earlier, they had a cakewalk at their home turf.

Minister for Small Scale Industries and Municipal Administration M.T.B. Nagaraj is the richest candidate in the fray with the declaration of property worth Rs 1,614.5 crore in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission.

For 2018 Assembly elections, Nagaraj had declared assets worth Rs 1,060 crore. The total value of the assets by Nagaraj and his wife is pegged at Rs 2,607 crore.

Nagaraj is facing stiff competition from Congress candidate Sharath Bachche Gowda. Sharath Bachche Gowda had defeated Nagaraj in bypolls of 2019 as an independent candidate. Now, there is a straight fight between them.

Nagaraj has shown a total income of Rs 96.84 crore as total income in the year 2021-22. He has Rs 29.12 crore in his savings bank account and Rs 33.08 crore fixed deposit. He has shown a capital investment of Rs 196.54 crore in MTB estates and properties. He also revealed that his wife M. Shanthakumar has a capital investment of Rs 127.32 crore in the same company.

Besides, he has movable assets worth Rs 372.42 crore in his name while his wife has Rs 163.78 crore. The current value of immovable properties in his name is Rs 798.38 crore and that of his wife is Rs 274.97 crore.

Nagaraj owns Land Rover Defender worth Rs 1.65 crore. His wife owns Porsche worth Rs 1.04 crore. Nagaraj, who dropped out of school in ninth standard, was one of the prominent Congress leaders who defected to BJP in 2019.

State Congress President D.K. Shivakumar who is contesting from Kanakapura constituency is considered as one of the richest candidates. He has declared Rs 1,214 crore worth of movable and immovable properties.

Shivakumar is facing competition from BJP Minister for Revenue R. Ashoka this time on his home turf. Ashoka has declared property worth Rs 75.73 crore. It has been a cake walk for Shivakumar in all earlier elections. BJP is putting all its might to stop him in this election.

Ashoka has shown income of Rs 14.24 crore for the year 2021-22. The movable assets in his name are worth Rs 244.93 crore and immovable assets are worth Rs 142.27 crore.

The approximate current market price of immovable property is shown as Rs 970.01 crore.

He has shown 44 per cent increase in the assets from 2018. Back in 2018, he had declared Rs 840 crore. Shivakumar has stated that he had inherited property worth Rs 28.75 crore. He has a Rolex watch worth Rs 9 lakh and Hublot watch worth Rs 23.90 lakh.

He owns eight apartments in Purva Midtown, four flats in Salarpuria Sattva, and three properties in New Delhi. Shivakumar was arrested in September 2019 in a money laundering case and released in October 2019. He was given an unprecedented grand welcome after the release and the Congress elevated him to the post of KPCC President. Now, the party is projecting him as one of the CM candidates.

Priyakrishna, a Congress contestant from Govindarajanagar and former MLA has declared Rs 1,156.83 crore movable and immovable assets in the affidavit. In 2018, Priyakrishna had declared assets worth Rs 1,020 crore. He has movable assets worth Rs 935 crore and immovable assets of Rs 221.83 crore.

He has inherited assets worth Rs 183 crore. BJP has fielded Umesh Shetty, a corporator and new face in the constituency. Amit Shah had held a roadshow in the constituency to ensure victory. Earlier, the seat was represented by Minister for Housing V. Somanna.

Bhyrathi Suresh, a Congress candidate from Hebbal has declared assets worth Rs 648.12 crore. He had declared Rs 416.7 crore in 2018. His movable assets are worth Rs 57 crore and immovable assets are worth Rs 561 crore.

He is facing Katta Jagadish of BJP party, who is fighting his first MLA election. Katta Jagadish is the son of Katta Subramanya Naidu, a senior BJP leader.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)