HYDERABAD (TIP): Clearly our politicians representing poor citizens are not into social service anymore and are instead amassing huge wealth for themselves. And when it comes to candidates from the YSRCP, no one comes close to these millionaires.
Yes, all 25 candidates contesting polls from various seats of Seemandhra are millionaires or crorepatis -at least that’s what examination of their declared assets show. Leading the pack of millionaires from YSRCP is Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla, who is contesting from Narasaraopet with declared assets worth a whooping Rs 654 crore. There is also Kurnool candidate Butta Renuka (Rs 242 crore) and Rajendra Prasad (Rs 137 crore) from Vijaywada.
In fact, its not just YSRCP leaders doubling or trebling their money since 2009, all the parties put together in Seemandhra have more millionaire candidates than their Telangana counterparts. The region has nine contestants having declared assets of more than Rs 100 crore as against just six from Telangana. Heading the millionaire club are three industrialists, including Jayadev Galla, the TDP candidate for Guntur with property worth an astounding Rs 683 crore, closely followed by YSRCP’s Rami Reddy in second place and Gokaraju Ganga Raju, who is contesting from Narsapuram on a BJP ticket with assets worth Rs 288 crore in third position.
The richest candidate in Telangana is Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, TRS candidate from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, with declared assets worth Rs 528 crore, much less than what Galla has declared. If all YSRCP candidates are millionaires, candidates fielded by others parties are also not far behind as 95% TDP candidates, 84% Congress candidates and 75 % BJP candidates happen to be millionaires. If the average assets per candidate contesting from Telangana is Rs 8.49 crore, that of Seemandhra is predictably on the higher side at Rs 11.61 crore.
Activists from Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) who analysed the 328 candidates for the LS elections said, as many as 112 (34%) of the contesting candidates from Seemandhra are crorepatis. “In the 2009 elections, 25% candidates from this region were crorepatis, but this time the percentage has sharply increased to 35%,” said D Rakesh Reddy, state coordinator, ADR. Worse, as many as 176 (54%) candidates out of 328 analysed have not declared I-T details and 79 (24%) their PAN details.