Meet the rich & poor of Rajya Sabha

It is a place frequented by the rich and the famous. No we are not discussing a high-end club or a Bollywood bash. This is the seat of India's democracy-The Rajya Sabha.

A recent study conducted by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW) — an umbrella body of about 1,200 NGOs worldwide — has found that most crorepatis are from the Congress and the BJP.

The study analysed self- sworn affidavits filed by the 219 members at the time of their election to the Rajya Sabha. The data was obtained under the Right to Information Act.

Uttar Pradesh MPs score the highest in this regard (17 out of 26, i.e. 65 per cent).

The Rajya Sabha boasts of nearly 100 crorepati members with industrialist Rahul Bajaj, an Independent MP from Maharashtra, being the richest. Rahul Bajaj, leads the pack of crorepati MPs with assets worth Rs 308 crore.

MAM Ramaswamy from Karnataka comes in second with Rs 279 crore in his kitty. An owner of race- horses and Janata Dal (Secular) member from Karnataka, has assets worth Rs 279 crore.

They are closely followed by T. Subbarami Reddy, a film producer and Andhra Pradesh Congress member, who has assets worth Rs 273 crore.

Also, on the rich list, actress- MP Jaya Bachchan, who represents the Samajwadi Party, is fourth at Rs 215 crore.

Followed by Congress MP and mine- owner from Karnataka Anil H. Lad at Rs 188 crore.

Next in line is Samajwadi Party Amar Singh with Rs 79.5 crore.

Karan Singh of the Congress follows them with Rs 61 crore.

The study also found that four members from the Left parties and one from the BJP were placed at the bottom of the assets ladder.

D. Raja, a CPI MP from Tamil Nadu has declared that he has ‘zero' assets in his affidavits.

Communist MPs it seems have little interest in materialism. Saman Pathak from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also declared that he possesses no assets.

Abani Roy, a Revolutionary Socialist Party MP from West Bengal, has declared his assets to be worth Rs 72,000.

Brinda Karat, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP from West Bengal, has assets worth Rs 1,74,000.

Rudra Narayan Pany, a BJP MP from Orissa, is slightly richer with declared assets worth Rs 3.49 lakh.

Rahul Bajaj, incidentally, also happens to be the MP who has declared the maximum liabilities (Rs 386 crore), followed by Anil H Lad, Ram Narayan Sahu (Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh), T Subbarami Reddy and Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress who is a member from Rajasthan. As many as 11 Elders have declared liabilities of more than Rs 1 crore.

The other MPs who have declared assets below Rs 10 lakh include Shyamal Chakraborty (CPM, West Bengal), Ali Anwar (JD- U, Bihar), Tapan Kumar Sen (CPM, West Bengal) and Bhagwati Singh (Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh).