Lok Sabha polls 2014: Arun Jaitley richer than royal of Patiala

AMRITSAR: One sprawling palace of Captain Amarinder Singh, scion of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, is almost equal to the total assets of legal eagle and top BJP strategist Arun Jaitley. The lawyer showed total assets of Rs 71.56 crore while filing his nomination on Monday. But Captain's Moti Bagh palace spread in 160 bighas in Patiala itself is worth Rs 71.30 crore according to his nomination papers, filed on April 4.

The Congress candidate also has an apartment in Dubai worth Rs 96 lakh. The Patiala royal has total assets of Rs 82.5 crore as an individual and 'karta' of the Hindu United Family ( HUF), which includes the palace.

Jaitley has royal tastes in luxury automobiles. He owns a fleet of fleet of five expensive cars, including a Porsche valued at over Rs 1 crore. Other beauties in the stable are a Mercedes, a BMW, a Honda Accord and Toyota Fortuner, all valued at Rs 3.10 crore. Captain doesn't own a single car in his individual capacity!

While Sangeeta Jaitley owns assets worth Rs 41.46 crore, Union minister Preneet Kaur, who is the setting MP from Patiala and is contesting the elections this time, has shown Rs 3.80 crore assets.

Jaitley, who is fighting his first Lok Sabha election, earns more than Rs 2.25 crore annually while the 'Maharaja' has put his annual income at Rs 1215480.

The scion of the princely state of Patiala, Amarinder has around 4 kg gold jewelry, both as the 'karta' of the Hindu United Family (HUF) and an individual while Preneet has only 701 grams of gold worth around Rs 36 lakh and silver worth Rs 3 lakh.

Jaitley is also found of shiny metals and diamonds as he owns around 5.5 kg gold, 15kg silver and diamonds worth Rs 45 lakh.

Before going to file his nomination papers, Jaitley addressed a public rally held close to the house of Navjot Singh Sidhu whom he replaced as the BJP candidate. He later said,"The victory procession has now formally begun." Expressing hope of BJP's thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections he said,"The last decade had been a wasted opportunity."