Tharoor puts assets' value at Rs 23 crore

Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Congress candidate from Thiruvananthapuram constituency, Shashi Tharoor has declared assets worth about Rs 23 crore. According to the affidavit he submitted along with his nomination papers here on Tuesday, Tharoor has made investments of about Rs 12 crore apart from having immovable assets worth Rs 94.41 lakh including an apartment in Thiruvananthapuram with a present market value of Rs 65 lakh.

The assets include jewellery worth Rs 32 lakh and a share in an ancestral property in Elavanchery in Palakkad district worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. Ahead of his contest from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2009 election, Tharoor had declared assets worth about Rs 21.24 crore.

On the other end of the spectrum, a candidate fielded by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) comes with a declared total asset of only Rs 750. Biju, a social worker who has entered the election fray from Kottayam, splits the asset thus: Rs 500 as cash in hand and the rest as savings in a bank account.