JOIN US Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Sunday said he has kept his 25 years of political career transparent and not followed any illegal path to increase his wealth.
Reacting to the joint statement of National Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms which said the networth of his assets have increased from Rs 9.88 crore to Rs 20.35 crore, in the last five months. Gowda said he had applied for a loan to buy a 36,000 square feet building from K V Naidu in Bangalore before elections and rent it out to the Ramaiah Foundation for Rs 15 lakh per month.
The Federal Bank had sanctioned a rent securitisation loan of Rs 8 crore against the rent receivables from the Foundation on November 20. The process was temporarily stopped because of elections. However, it continued soon after the voting and before the counting. The property was registered on May 23 this year and the rental advance of Rs 2 crore was deposited in the bank account. “So, the property was not with me before the elections and it was registered in my name within one week after polling.
To maintain transparency, I had updated my asset details during the declaration before the prime minister’s office. I have not breached any law. I have loans in four banks- Canara Bank Mangalore, Corporation Bank, Mangalore, Federal Bank, Mangalore and Apex Bank, Bangalore,” he said. The Minister also provided photocopies of his loan and rental documents.