Naidu's asset declaration will provide some comic relief

What prompted Chandrababu Naidu to declare his assets along with those of his family members is a question that is being debated heatedly in political circles.

His declaration of assets has come as a major surprise to many, especially since it was widely known that Chandrababu owned only two acres of land before he became chief minister but later amassed wealth running into thousands of crores of rupees.  Contrast this with his declaration—Chandrababu claims his assets had actually slipped from Rs.40 crore in 2011 to Rs.35.59 crores this year!
 
Chandrababu and his family had earlier declared their assets to be worth about Rs.21 crores in 2004 and Rs 68 crores in 2009. He tried to jump on to Anna Hazare's bandwagon and took on the role of a crusader against corruption. It was then that Chandrababu declared his assets and those of his family members in 2011. However, the people of the state saw through his designs and he only ended up making a laughing stock of himself.

 What made him declare his assets now ?

It appears that Chandrababu has declared his assets keeping his padayatra, scheduled to start on October 2, in mind. He will now claim that his assets are in public domain.

Chandrababu had no answer to the question on the phenomenal increase in the growth of his assets for someone who owned a mere two acres of land.
The TDP chief, who was chief minister from 1995 to 2004, revealed that his family assets have come down to Rs.35.59 crores this year. His declaration also pegged the assets of his wife Bhuvaneswari at Rs.24.57 crores. It would be pertinent to recall that Bhuvaneswari heads the family's business venture, Heritage Foods. Last year, it was stated that she had assets with a net value of Rs. 27.18 crores. She also has loans and advances amounting to Rs.17.38 crores, up from Rs.12.38 crores last year. Chandrababu's son N. Lokesh is worth Rs.6.62 crores as against Rs.6.82 crores declared last year.
Lokesh's wife Brahmani, daughter of Chandrababu's brother-in-law and leading Telugu film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, has assets of Rs.2.09 crores in her name.

Let's look at what analysts have to say on Chandrababu.

With a net worth of Rs 2,000 crores, he is described as one of the richest politicians in India. He is reputed to have business interests from Bangalore to Singapore. Chandrababu is also known to be a master at collecting large amounts towards party funds during  election time. He promoted his personal enterprise and had allegedly indulged in land grabbing in a big way during his term as CM between 1995 to 2004.
His enterprise at Kuppam is a joint farming venture spread over nearly 2,000 acres. In addition to his palatial house at Jubilee Hills, he is known to own properties in Mumbai, Chennai and Ooty, among other places.
His lands which he bought for around 8,000 per acre are today worth almost Rs 400,000 per acre. It is also speculated that he has some interests in a shopping mall in Malaysia and a hotel in Singapore.
However, Chandrababu alleged that Congress party leaders were making baseless allegations that he owns assets worth Rs.2,000 crores. He challenged his rivals to prove that he owns a hotel in Singapore.

-Siva@sakshipost