ADR report reveals 36 ministers in India hold billionaire assets, Karnataka tops the list
New Delhi: A new analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that 36 ministers across India have declared assets worth over ₹100 crore, making them billionaires. The report was released on Wednesday and it examined the financial disclosures of 643 ministers from state governments, Union Territories and the Union Council of Ministers.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald, collectively, these ministers declared assets worth ₹23,929 crore. Billionaire ministers account for nearly 6% of the total.
Party-wise, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads the list with 14 billionaire ministers, making up 4% of its ministerial strength. The Congress follows with 11 out of 61 ministers (18%) falling into the billionaire category. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ranks third, with six of its 23 ministers (26%) reporting assets above the ₹100 crore mark. Ministers from the Aam Aadmi Party, Janasena Party, JD(S), NCP and Shiv Sena also feature in the list.
The richest minister in the country is Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani of the TDP from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, with his assets exceeding ₹5,705 crore. Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is second on the list, with assets worth over ₹1,413 crore. With assets valued at over ₹931 crore, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu ranks third, who is also knows as the "richest Chief Minister."
Others named in the top ten include Narayana Ponguru and Nara Lokesh (Andhra Pradesh), Gaddam Vivekanand and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy (Telangana), Suresha B S (Karnataka), Mangal Prabhat Lodha (Maharashtra) and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Karnataka has the highest number of billionaire ministers at eight. Andhra Pradesh stands second (six). While Maharashtra has four, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Telangana all have two. The states with one billionaire minister are Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab.
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Jaishankar embarks on 3-day visit to US
New Delhi (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday embarked on a three-day visit to the US to attend a Washington-led ministerial meeting on critical minerals supply chain.
Jaishankar's visit assumes significance as it is being seen as an opportunity to address the sharp downturn in the relations between the two strategic partners.
It is expected that the minister will hold bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials of the Trump administration.
"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit the United States from February 2 to 5 to participate in the Critical Minerals Ministerial convened by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
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It said the ministerial will focus on supply chain resilience, clean energy transitions, and strategic cooperation in critical minerals.
"During the visit, the external affairs minister will also hold meetings with senior members of the US administration," it said.
India-US ties have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties, for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
Apart from the tariff issue, the relations witnessed a downturn on a number of other issues that included Trump's claim of ending the India-Pakistan conflict in May last year and Washington's new immigration policy.
