Of the 32 newly-appointed ministers in Karnataka, 31 have assets worth more than a crore, a report by non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms showed on Monday. The analysis by the election watchdog also showed that 24 ministers have criminal cases against them.
Siddaramaiah became the chief minister of Karnataka after the Congress won 135 out of the 224 seats in the Assembly elections held earlier this month. Nine other ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar were inducted into the Cabinet on May 20. On May 27, Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot sworn in 24 others as ministers, expanding the state Cabinet to its its full strength of 34.
In its report on Monday, the Association for Democratic Reforms said it has analysed self-sworn affidavits of 32 out of 34 ministers. It said that declaration made by minister Kelachandra Joseph George could not be analysed due to the “unavailability of his clear and complete affidavits” on the Election Commission website. Details of another minister, NS Boseraju, could not be analysed as he is not a member of either the state Assembly or the legislative council.
The average assets of the 32 ministers stood at Rs 119.06 crores, the Association for Democratic Reforms report said. Shivakumar has the highest declared assets worth Rs 1,413.80 crore, according to the report. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has assets totaling Rs 51.93 crore.
TR Balappa, the only minister who is not a crorepati and has assets worth Rs 58.56 lakh.
The report also showed that seven ministers have declared serious criminal cases against them. These ministers are Shivakumar, D Sudhakar, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, KH Muniyappa, Siddaramaiah, B Nagendra and Eshwar Khandre.
Association for Democratic Reforms defines serious crimes as non-bailable offences that attract a maximum punishment of five years and more. These are crimes related to assault, murder, kidnap and rape, as well as crimes against women and corruption cases.
Nagendra has highest number of serious criminal cases against him at 105.
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