Wives of six MPs in fray have heavier money bags

Affidavits filed by prominent candidates contesting the upcoming election have revealed some interesting details on the assets owned by them. The most curious is that former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former Union ministers M Veerappa Moily and KH Muniyappa, and BJP MPs Naleen Kumar Kateel and Pratap Simha are poorer than their wives.

The former prime minister Deve Gowda, for instance, has declared movable and immovable assets worth Rs 95.31 lakh. In contrast, movable assets of his wife Chennamma was Rs 1.23 cr and immovable assets were worth Rs 3.67 cr - totalling Rs 5 crore, which is five times more the assets owned by Gowda.

In a similar case, Veerappa Moily, who is seeking re-election from Chikkaballapur, had declared that he has no immovable assets such as land or commercial buildings, and has movable assets worth only Rs 4.9 lakh. His wife, on the other hand, has two houses and several plots of agricultural land in her name.

The combined value of these properties was worth Rs 15.65 crore.

Muniyappa’s assets

Congress candidate from Kolar, Muniyappa, though not as ‘poor’ as Moily, has declared assets worth around Rs 9 crore, while his wife is worth Rs 17.5 crore.

Affidavits of two other candidates contesting the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, BJPs Pratap Simha and Naleen Kumar Kateel, display the same pattern.

While Pratap was richer than his wife when he filed his nominations for the first time in 2014, his wife has assets almost worth twice him today. He has declared assets worth Rs 63.87 lakh while his spouse has assets worth Rs 1.21 crore.

Similar declarations have been made by Naleen Kumar Kateel.