Congress leader D K Shivakumar said he is not the richest, but he isn't poor either. (File)
The richest MLA in the country has assets worth over Rs 1,400 crore while an MLA from West Bengal does not have even Rs 2,000 to his name, a report by an advocacy group has revealed.
D K Shivakumar, who became Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister after the Congress' resounding victory in the state Assembly elections in May, has assets worth Rs 1,413 crore and the next two richest MLAs are also from the state, according to the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Second on ADR's list of richest MLAs is KH Puttaswamy Gowda, an independent MLA who has assets worth Rs 1,267 crore. He is followed by Priya Krishna of the Congress, who has Rs 1,156 crore.
Asked about his assets, Mr Shivakumar said he is not the richest, but he is not poor either. "I am not the richest. These are assets that I have acquired over a long period. My money is in the name of an individual, and I have kept it that way. I am not the richest, and I'm not poor."
Four of the richest MLAs in the top ten are from the Congress and three are from the BJP, triggering an exchange of barbs between the parties.
MLA Rizwan Arshad of the Congress said, "People like Mr Shivakumar are businessmen. And what's wrong with that? Look at BJP MLAs too, especially those accused of mining scams."
The BJP hit back and said that the Congress loves rich people. "Justice has been delivered to those in our party who were involved in mining scams. The Congress loves rich people," said senior Karnataka BJP leader Suresh Kumar.
Number 23 on the richest MLAs' list is mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, who was part of the BJP and had floated his own party last year. Most of his assets are reportedly in the name of his wife Aruna Lakshmi, who had contested the Karnataka Assembly elections under the banner of the new party, Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha.
On the other end of the spectrum is Nirmal Kumar Dhara, a BJP MLA from West Bengal, whose total declared assets are just Rs 1,700. He is followed by an Independent MLA from Odisha, Makaranda Muduli, who has Rs 15,000 and Narinder Pal Singh Sawna of the AAP from Punjab, whose assets are worth 18,370.
Of the country's 20 richest MLAs, 12 are from Karnataka. At 14%, the state also has the highest percentage of MLAs that are billionaires and have assets worth at least Rs 100 crore. The state which is second on that list is Arunachal Pradesh, 4 of whose 59 MLAs are billionaires, giving it a percentage of seven.