ELECTIONS

Rahul Gandhi neither owns a house nor a car

By Sharat Pradhan in Sultanpur
April 04, 2009 23:43 IST

Rahul Gandhi neither owns a house nor a car. And that is claimed by none other than the Congress 'hero' himself in the affidavit that was filed along with his nomination papers for the prestigious Amethi parliamentary seat, in Sultanpur on Saturday.

The 8- page affidavit sworn by Rahul explicitly describes the total worth of his moveable and immoveable properties of the order of just about Rs 2.25 crores

That includes a cash deposit of a paltry Rs 70,000 with the State Bank of India and long term deposits of about Rs 11 lakhs with CITI bank and HDFC Bank.

While Rahul does not hold a single debenture or shares, he has a Public Provident Fund (PPF) deposit of Rs 10.29 lakhs .

In terms of jewellery too, Rahul has nothing beyond 333.30 grams of jewellery worth not more than Rs 1.5 lakhs, while he accrued about Rs 7.29 lakhs in the form of claims or interests.

The Gandhi scion, who is perceived in the Congress party as its ultimate prime ministerial nominee, does own about 2.3 acres of farm land in Delhi's prime Mehrauli area. However another agricultural land measuring about 6

acres in Haryana's Faridabad has been shown to be worth about Rs. 28 lakhs.

Significantly, as per the affidavit, Rahul neither owns a residential plot nor a flat or bungalow anywhere. All that he has in his name in the name of a constructed property were two shops in Metropolitan Mall at Saket in New Delhi. While one of these shops measuring 514 sq feet was valued at Rs 55 lakhs, the other measuring about 996 sq feet was valued at Rs 1.08 crores.

If his assets do not include any giant property, his liabilities too were almost negligible. Other than a loan of Rs 70 lakhs that he took sometime in 2006, he has no other liability. And even that liability currently stands reduced to about Rs 23 lakhs.

Income Tax paid by him for the Assessment Year 2008-09 was about Rs 11.20 lakhs.

Interestingly, unlike many run-of-the-mill politicians, Rahul was neither ever involved in any criminal activities, nor was he uneducated. A graduate from Rollins College, Florida, United States of America, Rahul has done his M-Phil in Development Economics from the famous Trinity College under the illustrious University of Cambridge.

Sharat Pradhan in Sultanpur

Recommended by Rediff.com

NewsBusinessMoviesSportsCricketGet AheadDiscussionLabsMyPageVideosCompany Email