Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, with movable assets worth only `6.15 lakhs and a flat in Delhi, may be India’s poorest chief minister who could put neighbouring Jharkhand’s jailed ex-chief minister Madhu Koda to utter shame.
Mr Kumar, less wealthy than even deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, added only two gold rings and three heads of cattle to his personal possessions in the past year, according to details of assets and incomes of the JD(U)-BJP coalition government’s ministers and legislators that they made public for the second consecutive year on Monday night.
A 1,000 sq. ft. flat in New Delhi’s Sansad Vihar Colony that Mr Kumar owns has been valued at `40 lakhs as per current market prices. He has a bank loan of `1.93 lakh taken for this flat. The JD(U) stalwart’s movable assets of worth include a Hyundai Santro car of 2003 model worth `2.70 lakh, ornaments worth `52,000 only, an old TV set, an old air-conditioner, a fridge and an air cooler.
In 2010, Mr Kumar had a cow and a calf, both then valued at `53,000. He now has two cows and three calves, all valued at `83,000. In 2010-11, Mr Kumar filed income-tax return of `1.62 lakh while his son Nishant, whose total assets are worth `73.6 lakh, filed income-tax return of `2.50 lakh. The Bihar CM has transferred most of his properties in his son’s name.
Mr Modi’s immovable assets are worth `76.97 lakh, but the assets of his wife and children add up to `1.17 crores.