8 of 21 new ministers in Cabinet have criminal charges against them: Association for Democratic Reforms

NEW DELHI: The number of tainted ministers in the government increased from 12 to 20 with Sunday's Cabinet expansion exercise according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). About 31% of the council of ministers has criminal charges pending against them with 8 out of the 21 new inductees facing criminal cases.

Of the new inductees 4 ministers have declared serious criminal cases. In total, 11 (17%) ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, and electoral violations.

The maximum number of cases, 21, are pending against Ramshankar Katheria from Agra Constituency claimed ADR. These include case related to attempt to murder, forgery, criminal intimidation and disturbing communal harmony. Hansraj Ahir has 11 cases pending against him including criminal intimidation and assault while Bandaru Dattatreya has three. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti faces a case of criminal intimidation, minister from Nawada, Giriraj Singh faces a case for election violation, while Ram Kripal Yadav, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have one case pending against them as claimed by ADR.

The number of crorepati ministers has increased from 40 to 59 after the expansion. About 92% of the council of ministers are crorepatis. The average assets of the newly inducted ministers is Rs 18.48 crore. In total the average assets per minister is Rs 14.25 crore.

Among the newly inducted ministers, Yalamanchili Satyanarayana Chowdary, Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh declared the highest total assets of Rs 189.69 crore followed by Jayant Sinha from Hazaribagh constituency with assets of Rs. 55.67 crore and Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Budh Nagar with total assets worth Rs. 47.37 crore.