By CJ Khaja Pasha in Bangalore
Bagegowda is closely followed by mining baron and Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad, who is worth Rs 183.9 crore.
Interestingly, a majority of the billionaires are either miners or realtors. The exceptions are former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita, former minister R V Deshpande, Bangalore legislator N A Haris of the Congress and infrastructure magnate Ashok Kheny of the Kannada Makkala Paksha.Details of their assets were obtained from the affidavits they submitted along with their nomination papers before the Election Commission.
Bagegowda (56), who is testing his fortunes in electoral politics for the first time, represents the new breed of billionaires born out of the realty boom in and around Bangalore. A 10th standard pass-out, Bagegowda inherited most of his property. Anil Lad is contesting from Bellary city where his rivals in the mining business, the Reddy brothers, ruled the roost till Janardhan Reddy went to the jail on illegal mining charges. Lad was defeated by Somashekhar Reddy in 2008 elections by a narrow margin.
Anil’s cousin Santosh Lad, who is seeking re-election from Kalaghatagi constituency in Dharwdad district, ranks third in the list of richest MLA aspirants with assets worth Rs 176.73 crore.
Both cousins beat all odds to get tickets in this election. In fact, Anil literally arm-twisted the party high-command. Ironically, the Supreme Court has ordered the closure of mining firms of both of them on charges of carrying out illegal mining.
Priya Krishna, another realtor and Congress candidate from Govindaraj Nagar constituency in Bangalore, has net assets worth Rs 133.19 crore. In fact, he has declared assets worth over Rs 910.9 crore, but he owes Rs 777.79 crore to banks and other institutions. If his liabilities are not taken into account, he will top the list by a wide margin. So is the case with Prabhakar Reddy, who is contesting from Bangalore South on a JD(S) ticket. He has assets worth `208.7 crore and has liabilities of over Rs 195 crore.
Priya Krishna’s father M Krishnappa, known as Layout Krishnappa, who is contesting from Vijayanagar constituency in Bangalore, had declared assets worth Rs 69 crore in 2008, but his 2013 affidavit is not available. T N Javarayi Gowda, another new entrant to electoral politics, is worth Rs 128.48 crore. He is contesting from Yeshwantpur in Bangalore on a JD(S) ticket. Kumaraswamy and Anita have filed separate declarations since both are contesting the May 5 elections.
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