Hyderabad: If elected to power, many of India’s super-rich parliamentarians will be from the Telugu states.
Going by the value of assets disclosed by the candidates, the richest contestant is TRS-turned Congressman standing from Chevella, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who declared his wealth at Rs 895 crore. He is followed by YSRC party MP Potluri Varaprasad, known to be a major founder of the YSRC, who is worth Rs 450 crore.
Indian-American politician and industrialist Galla Jayadev, who shot to fame in 2014 when he won from Guntur, comes third with Rs 89; in 2014 he was worth Rs 683 crore.
Engineer-turned-politician Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who tops the list, owns movable assets of Rs 223 crore, while the movable assets of his wife K. Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals, is Rs 613 crore. The movable assets of their dependent son is nearly Rs 20 crore. The candidate has declared family assets worth Rs 895 crore.
Nama Nageshwar Rao, who was once close to the TD top brass, and has drifted to the TRS ahead of the election, is the second wealthiest candidate in TS. The chairman of the Madhucon group owns assets of Rs 334 crore. Other rich candidates from TS are TRS candidate G. Ranjith Reddy with Rs 163 crore, and B. Janardhan Reddy with Rs 119 crore both contesting from Chevella.
Over 52 candidates from recognised parties are in the election battle in Telangana state. Seven of them are billionaires with wealth above Rs 100 crore.
If one compares the two states, Andhra Pradesh politicians are several times richer than those in the neighbouring Telugu state.
Among legislators, AP minister and Narayana Group chairman P. Narayana is the richest, he owns wealth worth Rs 667 crore.
The two arch political rivals battling for the throne need special mention.
Both billionaires, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has declared family assets worth Rs 574 crore.
His son N. Lokesh, who is independent of his father in terms of filing income tax and maintaining assets, has declared Rs 320 crore as his net worth.
YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s assets combined with that of his wife and daughters are valued at over Rs 510 crore.
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