File photo of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa
The worth of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's assets has more than doubled in the last four years, helped by a spike in real estate prices, her nomination papers show. Ms Jayalalithaa filed papers last week to contest a by-election from Chennai's Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency.
For the 2011 assembly elections, Ms Jayalalithaa had declared assets worth Rs 51.40 crore. This time she has declared Rs 117.13 crore in assets. This includes Rs 45.04 crore in movable assets and Rs 72.09 crore in immovable assets.
The AIADMK chief has not added significantly to what to she owned in 2011. But her 24,000-square-foot Poes Garden residence "Veda Nilayam" is now valued at Rs 43.96 crore. It was valued at Rs 38 crore in 2011. Ms Jayalalithaa and her mother had purchased it for Rs 1.32 lakh in July 1967, the affidavit said.
Besides the Poes Garden home, Ms Jayalalithaa's four commercial buildings - including one in Poes Garden and in Hyderabad - have been valued at a total of Rs 13 crore, it said.
The value of 18 acre agricultural land she owns has gone up from Rs 11 crore to Rs 14 crore. The investments she had made in five enterprises as a 'partner' - including Kodanad Estate and Shri Jaya Publications - have almost tripled from Rs 11 crore to Rs 32 crore.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's bank deposits have increased from Rs 2 crore in 2011 to Rs 10 crore.
The assets, however, excludes the 21 kg gold she owns, which had been seized by the police in 1997 after her arrest in the disproportionate assets case. The Chief Minister has declared that she has 1,250 kg of silver articles valued at Rs. 3.12 crore.