A total of 72 members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new Council of Ministers, which was expanded on Tuesday, have assets of more than Rs 1 crore each, PTI reported. The number was quoted in a study published by Association for Democratic Reforms, a Delhi think-tank. The organisation’s report also noted that 24 of the ministers have had criminal cases to their name. The Narendra Modi government had added 19 ministers to its earlier tally of 64 and dropped 5.
The highest declared assets among all the new ministers was MJ Akbar, the Minister of State for External Affairs, at Rs 44.90 crore, while PP Choudhary disclosed Rs 35.35 crore and Vijay Goel claimed to have a net worth of Rs 29.97 crore. Among the older ministers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assets worth Rs 113 crore and Power Minister Piyush Goyal declared Rs 95 crore.
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