Many ministers in GA govt richer than Nitish

Patna Chief minister Nitish Kumar owns movable and immovable assets worth ₹75

Patna Chief minister Nitish Kumar owns movable and immovable assets worth ₹75.53 lakh, whereas his deputy Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has assets both movable and immovable worth ₹5 crore, according to his latest disclosure of assets.

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According to details of assets of the chief minister and his Cabinet colleagues uploaded on the Bihar government website on December 31, Kumar has ₹28,135 in cash and nearly ₹51,856 deposited in different banks.

Kumar and his colleagues on Saturday declared their personal assets and liabilities as part of the mandatory norm for all cabinet ministers to disclose their assets and liabilities on the last day of every calendar year.

As per the disclosures, several ministers are richer than the CM, including his deputy, parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, revenue and land reforms minister Alok Kumar Mehta and building construction department minister Ashok Choudhary.

As per the details of assets and liabilities uploaded on the website of the Cabinet Secretariat Department, Kumar has total movable properties worth around ₹16.68 lakh, while his immovable assets are worth ₹58.85 lakh. The CM has only one residential flat at a cooperative housing society at Dwarka in New Delhi.

According to disclosures made by both the brothers, Tejashwi has ₹75,000 in cash (till March 31, 2022), whereas his wife Rajshree has ₹1.25 lakh in cash. Environment and Forest department minister and elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Tej Pratap has ₹1.7 lakh in cash. Tej Pratap also owns movable and immovable assets worth ₹3.2 crore.

Besides, other ministers, who have declared their assets, include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Finance), Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Energy), Alok Kumar Mehta (Revenue & Land Reforms), Shrawan Kumar (Rural Development), Ashok Chaudhary (Building Construction), Surendra Prasad Yadav (Mines and Geology), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Information and Public Relations), Sheela Kumar (Transport).

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP has dubbed the details of assets and liabilities put by Bihar ministers as just an eyewash. The ruling RJD and Congress leaders, however, said the declarations by ministers were aimed at maintaining total transparency about their assets and liabilities.

( with inputs from PTI)