Rebel MLA MTB Nagaraj’s fortune grew by Rs 185 Crore in 18 months: Poll affidavit

mangaloretoday.com/yahoo

Bengaluru, Nov 17: Days after the Supreme Court ruled that the disqualified Karnataka MLAs could contest the upcoming bye-elections, former Hoskote MLA and state’s richest politician MTB Nagaraj filed his affidavit Friday, according to which, he got richer by Rs 185.7 crore in a span of just 18 months.

Curiously, his affidavit shows that 53 term deposits were made over a period in August after he withdrew support for the Congress-JDS coalition government.

Nagaraj resigned as Congress MLA on July 10. On July 15, Rs. 1.16 crore was deposited in Nagaraj’s account. Apart from this, 52 other term deposits are seen in Nagaraj’s other account between August 2-7, all of which were above 90 lakh rupees and below one crore.

His declaration also shows that he now has assets more than 10% compared to the time of the 2018 assembly elections.The politician has declared assets worth over Rs 1200 crores while his assets were at Rs 1015 crores 18 months ago.

According to his affidavit, Nagaraj has movable assets worth Rs 419 crore, while his wife Shanthakumari, has movable assets worth Rs. 167 crores. Nagaraj’s immovable assets are at Rs. 417 crores while his wife has recorded immovable assets worth Rs 189 crore. The inherited property of Nagaraj is valued at Rs 2.64 lakh and Shanthakumari’s inherited assets are valued at Rs 27 lakh.

He was one of the 17 rebel MLAs from Congress and JD(S), whose defection in July led to the fall of the coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy, making way for the BJP to clinch power in the state. Congress-JDS alleged the MLAs were poached and paid to switch sides.

Nagaraj is contesting the upcoming bye-elections due by December 5 from Hoskote on a BJP ticket.