Punjab cabinet is a club of billionaires

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab cabinet is a crorepati club, literally, with 13 out of 15 ministers above the crore-mark in assets.

Election data analyzed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and its associate Punjab Election Watch reveals that 13 (including late entrant deputy CM Sukhbir Badal) out of the 15 Punjab ministers whose assets were studied by the two agencies, belonged to the crorepati club. Ten out of these ministers belong to the Shiromani Akali Dal while two are from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

According to the ADR report, the A-list of the crorepati club of ministers is led by Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, the son-in-law of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, with assets worth Rs 20.81 crore. In reality, it is Kairon's brother-in-law and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who leads the list with nearly Rs 64.05 crore worth of assets, which he declared during the Jalalabad by-election in 2009. ADR's data is based on affidavits filed during the assembly elections in 2007.

CM Badal follows his son Sukhbir Badal and son-in-law Kairon with assets worth Rs 9.20 crore. Animal husbandry minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, irrigation minister Janmeja Sekhon, industries and local bodies minister Tikshan Sud, finance minister Upinderjit Kaur, tourism minister Hira Singh Gabria and PWD minister Parminder Dhindsa had declared assets ranging between Rs 3.62 crore to Rs 2.23 crore.

Health minister Satpal Gosain, rural development minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, revenue minister Ajit Singh Kohar and agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah had less than Rs 2 crore of movable and immovable assets in their names at the time of 2007 elections.

Only three minister, Balbir Singh Bath (SAD), Arunesh Shakar and Laxmi Kanta Chawla (both from BJP) owned assets worth less than Rs 1 crore.