Guwahati: Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu is the second richest Chief Minister of India. With a total asset of Rs 332 crores, Khandu is listed among the three current Chief Ministers in India with highest assets.
While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu tops the list with a total asset of Rs 931 crores, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came third with a total asset value of Rs 51 crore.
This was revealed in a report of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society group in India working on electoral and political reforms. The ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 31 current Chief Ministers in State Assemblies and Union Territories across the nation.
The ADR and NEW report said that the data has been extracted from affidavits filed by the Chief Ministers prior to contesting in their last elections.
The report said while Khandu has movable assets worth around Rs 165,10,74321, his immovable assets are valued at Rs.167,45,78832.
The analysis by the ADR further said that the Arunachal Chief Minister, however, has topped the list when liabilities are taken into account. Khandu has a total liability of Rs. 180,27,63,717. The other two in the list --Chandrababu Naidu and Siddaramaiah have liabilities worth Rs 10 crore and Rs. 23 crore respectively.
A graduate from Hindu College in Delhi, Pema Khandu is the son of former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu. He first became cabinet minister of Arunachal Pradesh in 2011 after the demise of his father in a chopper crash.
Contesting the election from his father's constituency, Mukto, Khandu won the elections on a Congress ticket, uncontested. He was given the portfolio of Tourism and Water Resource Development.
Khandu was re-elected unopposed from Mukto in the 2014 Arunachal Pradesh Assembly election. However, in 2016, 43 MLAs from the ruling party, under Khandu's leadership, defected from Indian National Congress to People's Party of Arunachal, an ally of Bharatiya Janata Party. Later the same year, Khandu along with his supporters joined the BJP and have since continued the electoral success for the BJP in the hill state.
The ADR report listed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan with lowest assets. While Banerjee has a total asset of over Rs 15 lakh, Abdullah's total asset is valued at over Rs 55 lakh. Pinarayi Vijayan's total assets are pegged at over Rs 1 crore only.
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