With Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh being unanimously elected as a Member of the Legislative Council, under the MLAs’ quota on Wednesday, he will now be one of the richest elected politicians in the state.
Lokesh’s affidavit, which was submitted along with his nomination papers on Monday, declares his total assets to be Rs 329.52 crore.
The Times of India reported that Rs 273.84 crore were in movable assets, while another Rs 56.52 crore were in immovable assets.
However, it is interesting to note that the details of the assets submitted by Lokesh to the Election Commission are much higher than the assets publicly declared by him in October last year.
As part of an annual tradition, Lokesh has been announcing his family’s assets publicly for the past six years.
Last year in October, he said that Naidu and his family members together owned assets of Rs 74 crore.
According to the list released by Lokesh, Naidu’s assets were worth Rs 3.73 crore, including a house in posh Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad worth Rs 3.68 crore.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief owns an ambassador car worth Rs 1.52 lakh. He also has a bank loan due of Rs 3.06 crore, thus leaving him with net assets of Rs 67 lakh against Rs 42 lakh declared last year, Lokesh said.
Lokesh, who was then the General Secretary of TDP, said that he owned assets worth Rs 14.50 crore while liabilities total Rs 6.35 crore. He has Rs 2.52-crore investment in Heritage Foods and Rs 1.64 crore in other companies.
The sharp increase in the assets, which is more than 20 times what he had declared five months ago, has raised many eyebrows. However, Lokesh has defended the affidavit.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Lokesh said “My declaration of assets last October was based on acquisition value. EC guidelines stipulate that the true market value should be disclosed so I declared the assets’ value as per latest market rates.”
Lokesh had also declared last year, that Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari, the Managing Director of Heritage Foods, owns assets worth Rs 38.66 crore while her liabilities are to the tune of Rs 13 crore.
Bhuvaneswari’s assets include Rs 19.95 crore in shares of Heritage Foods. She also has investment of Rs 3.23 crore in other companies.
Lokesh’s wife Brahmini owned assets of Rs 5.38 crore, including a house in Jubliee Hills (Hyderabad) valued at Rs 3.50 crore. She owns land in Manikonda and Madhapur, both in Hyderabad, worth Rs 1.40 crore.
Lokesh also declared assets in the name of his son Nara Devaansh, born in 2015.
The one-and-half-year old owns Rs 9.17 crore house in Jubliee Hills (Hyderabad). He also has fixed deposits of Rs 2.4 crore in his name.
Naidu’s grandson also has Rs 2.31 lakh in cash to his credit.