City’s richest candidate is a bricks-and-mortar crorepati

The list of multi-millionaires contesting the Delhi assembly elections is getting bigger and heavier. And the person who tops the chart is worth over Rs 200 crore, reports Atul Mathur.

The list of multi-millionaires contesting the Delhi assembly elections is getting bigger and heavier. And the person who tops the chart is worth over Rs 200 crore. Ved Prakash, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Mehrauli assembly segment, has declared assets worth over Rs 201 crore.

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Prakash said most of his wealth comprised ancestral property. It includes agricultural and non-agricultural land and houses in Kishangarh, Mehrauli and surrounding areas.

“I have no reason to hide what I have. My family has been living in this area for generations, and people know what I own,” said Prakash.

Prakash owns five brick-kilns in the Najafgarh area and also has a flourishing construction business. “In fact, my brick manufacturing units functioned in Kishangarh for almost 28 years. After the Supreme Court issued guidelines on polluting units, we relocated our kilns to the outskirts. Almost every house in Vasant Kunj and Kishangarh has used bricks manufactured at our kilns. I am also a builder. This is what I actually earned, and I don’t call my ancestral property as my own,” said Prakash.

Prakash drives a Toyota Corolla while his son has a Hyundai Santro. “These are the two cars that I own,” he said.

Although Prakash has set aside enough for a few generations to come, he is a strict said he knows the importance of education. “My eldest son has just completed MBBS and is interning at Safdarjung Hospital. My daughter is doing her masters in History from Delhi University and the youngest son is in Class 12, studying Science. There is no compromise on education,” he said.