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Naidu declares his assets

Shireen in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and other members of the state legislative assembly, including several ministers and Opposition leaders, have declared their assets.

Naidu has huge assets but none of these has been acquired after he became chief minister in September 1995.

As many as 214 members out of 294 in the state assembly declared their assets to the assembly Speaker Yanamala Ramakrishnudu as per the new Code of Ethics which came into force from January 1, 1999. Eighty members could not file their declarations before the deadline set by the speaker ended on March 31.

In an informal chat with the media on Thursday, the speaker said "the entire process is likely to be completed by the month-end and the declarations would be treated as public documents, which the people could challenge."

''If any member misleads the assembly by giving false information about his assets, the ethics committee, headed by the senior-most legislator N Yethiraja Rao, will recommend appropriate punitive action, which includes admonition, suspension and even imprisonment.''

Naidu, in his declaration, listed out the assets owned by him, his wife N Bhuvaneswari and teenaged son N Lokesh.

Naidu's assets include 13.05 acres of land at Nindali village in Nellore district, his present home at posh Jubilee Hill in Hyderabad, a site at road number 2, Banjara Hill (also in the city), 761,500 equity shares in Heritage Foods with a face value of Rs 10 each, an Ambassador car, Rs 307,280 in other investments, Rs 128,361 in cash, another 13.38 acres of land and equity shares in unlisted companies numbering 414,500. His liabilities include loans amounting to Rs 2,269,563 from finance companies.

Naidu's wife Bhuvaneswari owns 10.23 acres of agricultural land at Nindali in Nellore district, 0.19 acres at Yellareddygudem in Nalgonda district, 0.19 acres at Seri Lingampally in Rangareddy district, 0.21 acres at Madhapur on the outskirts of Hyderabad, 2.33 acres at Chennakurpur in Sriperambadur (Tamil Nadu), a building under construction at Punjagutta in Hyderabad, 34 per cent shares in Sri Rama agricultural farm (3.28 acres) at Kondapur on the outskirts of Hyderabad, 1,123,100 equity shares in Heritage Foods, 966.7 grams of gold, eight kilograms of silver, Rs 2,801,100 in investments in various companies, besides cash, bank balance and other movable property worth Rs 736,932. Her liabilities include loans amounting to Rs 14,609,437 from finance companies, another Rs 5 million loan from banks and Rs 3,315,018 advances from various private parties.

Naidu's son, Lokesh, owns 8.9 acres at Nindala, 33 percent shares in Sri Rama agricultural farm, 3,1500 equity shares in Heritage Foods, 625,641 shares in unlisted companies and Rs 145,546 in cash.

Incidentally, Telugu Desam founder-patriarch and then chief minister N T Rama Rao had voluntarily made his assets public in 1989. Naidu is NTR's son-in-law and the second chief minister to disclose his assets to the public in almost a decade.

Successive Congress chief ministers (1978 to 1982) and (1990 to 1994) have not disclose their assets to the public.

Though the speaker's office does not come under the purview of the Code of Ethics, Ramakrishnudu has set a precedent by declaring his and his wife's assets and liabilities. His assets include two flats in the city, one house at his native A V Nagaram village in East Godavari district, about 12 acres of wet land, about 16 acres of dry land in and around his native village, Rs 1,065,472 in fixed deposits, 25 per cent share in a rice mill, 600 square yards of land at Yousufguda in Hyderabad, 60 tolas of gold, one 118NE car, one Tata Sumo van and one Toshiba laptop computer. His liabilities include Rs 39,800 towards computer loan, Rs 200,000 towards personal loan and Rs 700,000 towards LIC housing loan.

Congress leader in the assembly P Janardhan Reddy also declared his assets. His immovable and movable properties include two houses at Gagan Mahal, one at MLA colony at Jubilee Hill and another at Domalguda, one shop at Basheerbagh (all in Hyderabad), 18.2 acres of dry land at Yacharam in Rangareddy district, one Ambassador car, five army-auctioned jeeps and one Maruti van. His liabilities include Rs 592,227 towards a housing loan and Rs 150,000 payable to a builder.

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