Haryana polls: Leaders see assets zoom up to 363% in five years

CHANDIGARH: As they try their luck at the hustings, fortune has surely favoured some of the prominent leaders in Haryana, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and HJC's Kuldeep Bishnoi, since the 2009 polls with a manifold increase in their assets.

Bishnoi, the Haryana Janhit Congress president and son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, saw his assets grow by a whopping 363 per cent since the last Assembly elections in Haryana in 2009.

In the affidavit filed for the upcoming polls, Bishnoi, who is contesting the Oct. 15 polls from the Adampur seat, has declared his assets of Rs 80.11 crore as against Rs 17.30 crore at the time of the last state polls.

Chief Minister Hooda, who is eyeing a third straight term, has witnessed an almost four-fold jump in assets which are valued now at Rs 8.82 crore as per the affidavit filed along with his nomination papers for the Garhi Sampla Kiloi seat.

For the Assembly polls in 2009, Hooda had declared assets worth Rs 2.70 crore.

Savitri Jindal, the 64-year-old Congress candidate from Hisar Assembly constituency whom 'Forbes' magazine has named India's richest woman has declared assets worth Rs 113.27 crore, up by 159 per cent from Rs 43.68 crore during the 2009 Assembly polls.

The wealthiest candidate in the fray is Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) chief Venod Sharma, whose total assets were declared to be worth Rs 153.13 crore. Bishnoi's HJC has joined hands with HJCP after parting ways with BJP.

Sharma's assets grew by 75 per cent over what he had declared in the last polls. After having floated HJCP, Sharma, once a close confidant of Hooda, is contesting from the Ambala City seat.

Among his assets, Sharma has shown property, including residential, commercial and agriculture land, in New Delhi, Ambala, Kullu, Chandigarh, Solan and Manali.

Another well-known player in state politics, Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Goyal Kanda, has declared assets worth Rs 114.75 crore, a jump of 82 per cent up from the Rs 63.15 crore announced in 2009.

Kanda (49), who is facing trial in the air hostess Geetika Sharma suicide case, has declared gold worth Rs 1.13 crore among his assets.

Sharma, Hooda and Jindal have not shown any vehicles among their property in the affidavits filed along with their nomination papers.

Bishnoi, on the other hand, owns the largest fleet of vehicles among which are a Jaguar XF, Audi Q7 and a Range Rover while Kanda has declared an Ford Endeavour and Hyundai Sonata among his vehicles.

Also, Hooda's affidavit shows that he possesses a revolver and a rifle while Kanda has declared ownership of a pistol and a rifle.