Former MP and president of newly-floated YSR Congress Party Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is perhaps one of the richest politicians in India, with declared assets of Rs.365 crores.
In 2009, Jagan had declared assets of Rs.77 crores. The son of the late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Friday declared movable and immovable assets of Rs.365 crores while filing his nomination for the May 8 by-election to Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. He submitted an affidavit to the returning officer declaring his assets. With this, Jagan has overtaken Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Nama Nageswara Rao, who has assets worth Rs.173 crores as per his affidavit filed with his nomination papers from the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
Jagan's wife Bharati owns assets worth Rs.41.33 crores. He owns houses, land and other property in Hyderabad, Kadapa and Bangalore. Interestingly, Jagan has no personal vehicle. Majority of Jagan's assets are in the form of bonds and shares in various private firms, including Bharati Cements and Sandur Power Project company. In 2009, while filing nomination for Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, Jagan had declared assets of only Rs.77 crores. Jagan, who resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and the Congress Party in November in 2010, floated the YSR Congress Party in March.
Both the ruling Congress and the main opposition TDP are targeting him for amassing huge wealth, allegedly through misuse of power between 2004 and 2009 when his father YSR was the chief minister. The TDP has demanded a CBI probe into Jagan's wealth after he reportedly paid Rs.84 crores as advance tax in September in 2010. The party alleged that he owns assets worth several thousand crores rupees.
The 38-year-old businessman has interests in cement and power projects in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other states. He also owns Telugu daily Sakshi and the TV news channel by the same name. Interestingly, most of the richest MPs come from Andhra Pradesh. The Congress party's L. Rajagopal in 2009 declared assets of more than Rs.100 crores while another party MP, G. Vivek, filed an affidavit declaring assets of Rs.73 crores. a