Former Union Telecom Minister A Raja, the DMK’s articulate Dalit face accused of being the architect of the 2G scam, the ‘Mother of all Scams’ which caused a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the country, is not among the richest candidates in the fray this General Elections. Far from it, on Wednesday he declared assets of Rs 3.61 crore, which is merely one-and-a-half times the assets worth Rs 1.45 crore he declared in 2009 when he had no corruption case against him.
Raja’s net worth would be dwarfed if one were to even compare it with his predecessor from the constituency and current Congress candidate in Coimbatore, R Prabhu, who has declared an asset value of over Rs 61 crore.
Raja, 50, filed his nomination before Nilgiris Returning Officer P Shankar declaring in his affidavit that he has been named as an accused in a corruption case that could attract a punishment of two years or more adding that no other criminal case is pending against him. While declaring a liability of Rs 35.51 lakh and Rs 3.92 lakh in his and his wife M A Parameswari’s name respectively, he declared a Toyota Corolla Altis car worth Rs 13.81 lakh which he bought in 2010-11. His movable assets total Rs 1.45 crore, including Rs 7.98 lakh cash, Rs 64.79 lakh bank deposits, Rs 22.09
While he earned an income of Rs 8.09 lakh in 2012-13, his wife earned Rs 5.74 lakh during the same period. Interestingly, he has also loaned Rs 3.91 lakh to his wife. His 2,400 sqft house at Ganapathy Nagar, Tiruchy, which he had purchased in October 1994, is now worth Rs 32.85 lakh. Parameswari owns 5.53-acre agricultural land at Serkudi in Musiri near Tiruchy valued at Rs 5.53 lakh. She also has five acres of land at Melapuliyur in her native Perambalur district worth Rs 8.59 lakh.
Besides, Raja has inherited 1.62 acres of agricultural land at Velur in Perambalur. His wife has movable assets worth Rs 93.93 lakh, 175 sovereign gold jewellery valued at Rs 43.07 lakh and silver worth Rs 4.68 lakh. She also has a stake of Rs 32.38 lakh in partnership firm Shivakamam Agency Capital. Raja’s daughter Mayuri has Rs 18.15 lakh worth movable assets, including 25 sovereigns of gold worth Rs 6.15 lakh and a Rs 12 lakh diamond stud. Raja has Rs 41.03 lakh worth Hindu Undivided Family assets.
