Modi has just Rs 4,700 cash

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has Rs 4,700 cash in hand, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda owns a gun and a revolver while Ramvilas Paswan’s wife runs a petrol pump in Delhi, according to their latest declaration of assets.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s husband Zubin owns a fibreglass boat while Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, a scion of Vizayanagram royal family, still has a 1982 model jeep and a Nano car. Raju’s deputy Mahesh Sharma, however, has a Prado and Lancer, both high-end four-wheelers.

Though assets of all ministers as on March 31, 2015, have not been uploaded in the official website of the Prime Minister, available documents make an interesting read.

Modi’s assets have grown to Rs 1.41 crore mainly due to appreciation of a residential property he owns in Gandhinagar. His investments include National Savings Certificates worth about Rs 5.45 lakh and life insurance policies worth Rs 1.99 lakh.

The prime minister also owns four gold rings weighing 45 grams and valued at Rs 1.18 lakh. He had listed Rs 1.21 lakh as its value in August 2014.

Gowda has a .32 revolver he bought in 2002 for Rs 55,000 besides a gun he bought for Rs 5,000 in 1989. While he boasts of a Prado and Land Cruiser, he also has a mobile phone which he bought for Rs 3,500 in 2004, a CD player of Rs 4,000 and TV set of Rs 8,000.

If Modi’s jewellery collection is minimal, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has gold and silver jewellery with a market value of 23.79 lakh.

Earlier, she had listed that she had 987 grams of gold and 5,500 gram silver, which she had received from her family. The Swaraj family, which has Volkswagen and Mercedes, is worth around Rs 6 crore.

Gold rush
Irani has jewellery worth 12.36 lakh, which could be around 880 gram gold, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu’s family own two kg of silver pooja articles and 520 gram gold. Paswan’s wife has 700 grams of gold.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has 255 grams of gold coin while his wife has another 1170 gram gold besides 2.1 kg silver.

His son also owns two kg of silver and 408 gram of gold. Irani has also declared among others an account she holds in SBI’s Sultanpur branch jointly with a BJP leader Uma Shankar Pandey, which is listed as party fund. She also lists a music system which her family bought for Rs 5,430 as one her family's assets. Naidu owns not a single piece of land in his name while there are four properties in his wife’s name.