The story of Mamata Banerjee is "no ordinary story", Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said on Tuesday, after a report ranked her as the poorest chief minister in India.
"The life and times of Mamata Banerjee are not just exemplary by Indian or Asian benchmarks. Her record of selfless public service, nurtured with compassion from her simple home in a bylane in Kolkata, is what no public servant on the planet can match. Hers is no ordinary story -- once in 100 years," Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader O'Brien said in a statement.
The remarks came after a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) ranked Mamata Banerjee as the chief minister with the lowest assets at just a little over Rs 15 lakh.
As per the report, Andhra Pradesh's N Chandrababu Naidu is the richest chief minister with assets worth over Rs 931 crore, followed by Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu at over Rs 332 crore, while Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is ranked third with assets worth more than Rs 51 crore.
With Rs 55 lakh worth assets, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is the second poorest in the list, while Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan is the third with Rs 1.18 crore.
The report said the average asset per chief minister from state assemblies and Union Territories stood at Rs 52.59 crore.
While India's per capita net national income or NNI was approximately Rs 1,85,854 for 2023-2024, the average self-income of a chief minister is Rs 13,64,310, around 7.3 times the average per capita income of India.
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