PANAJI: Former BJP minister Michael Lobo, who was the richest MLA of the outgoing Goa legislative assembly remains among the richest MLAs with assets worth upwards of ₹84.387 crore with his total assets having nearly doubled from the ₹49.47 crore he was worth back in 2017, information gleaned from the affidavit submitted before the Election Commission has revealed.
Lobo, who has joined the Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who has been representing the Calangute constituency, arguably the epicentre of Goa’s beach-centred tourism industry, owns a string of tourism properties including starred hotels, entertainment venues and clubs.
A bulk of his assets are immoveable assets that are worth ₹59.24 crore having risen from ₹33.11 crore in 2017 while his moveable assets rose from ₹16.36 crore to ₹25.147 crore.
His wife Delilah Lobo, who is the Congress candidate from the neighbouring Siolim constituency, has declared assets to the tune of ₹7.16 crore.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant’s assets have grown three-fold from ₹2.37 crore to ₹7.15 crore with his moveable assets rising the most from ₹75.43 lakh to ₹3.47 crore across the last five years. His moveable assets have grown from ₹1.62 crore to ₹3.68 crore.
The BJP’s Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate and his wife Jennifer Monserrate, both of whom are contesting the elections from Panaji and Taleigao respectively, have declared that they jointly own assets to the tune of ₹48.48 crore, each claiming joint ownership of the assets under their possession which represents a rise of more than ₹18 crore from the ₹30.03 crore they jointly owned back in 2017.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP’s Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate and his wife Jennifer Monserrate, both of whom are contesting the elections from Panaji and Taleigao respectively, have declared that they jointly own assets to the tune of ₹48.48 crore, each claiming joint ownership of the assets under their possession which represents a rise of more than ₹18 crore from the ₹30.03 crore they jointly owned back in 2017.
{{/usCountry}}Monserrate contested on a ticket of the United Goans Party in 2017, losing to the BJP’s Siddharth Kuncaliencar, while his wife contested on a Congress ticket winning from the Taleigao constituency. Monserrate was elected from the Panaji constituency in 2019 in the by-election to fill the vacancy after Manohar Parrikar passed away.
Other high net worth individuals contesting the upcoming assembly elections include Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane, who is worth ₹16.36 crore, his wife Deviya Rane who is worth ₹6.76 crore; Goa Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Kiran Kandolkar who is worth ₹6.69 crore and his wife Kavita Kandolkar, who is also contesting on the ticket of the All-India Trinamool Congress, has declared assets to the rune of ₹5.13 crore. Interestingly, Kiran has declared ownership of a Yamaha RX 135 motorcycle which he has said is worth ₹862, which is a steep fall from the ₹3,325 he said it was worth back in 2017.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on the other hand has only seen his assets grow marginally from ₹9.71 crore to ₹10.08 crore.
Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal, who is contesting the elections for the first time, has declared assets to the tune of ₹8.84 crore while AAP chief ministerial candidate Amit Palekar, who is also contesting the elections for the first time, has declared assets to the tune of ₹11.42 crore including the ownership of a Maserati Coupé luxury car registered in Jharkhand, which, he has said, he is in the process of selling.
Goa Forward supremo Vijai Sardesai has declared individual assets worth ₹4.06 crore not including that owned by his wife who is worth ₹31.09 crore including moveable assets worth ₹6.74 crore and immoveable assets worth ₹24.35 crore.
“A combination of muscle power and money power has become a perfect recipe for winning assembly elections. It would be not out of place to mention that Goa had only 6 candidates (out of 249) in 2017 who had more than ₹10 crores each as declared wealth and also had on them serious criminal cases. All six were elected to the assembly by the voters,” Bhasker Assoldekar, the Goa State Coordinator for the Association of Democratic Reforms, said.
In 2007, Goa had only 55% MLAs who were crorepatis, which rose to 93% in 2012 and touched 100% at the time of the 2017 assembly elections.
A total of 587 candidates including dummies, have filed their nominations for the upcoming Goa assembly elections. The nominations will be scrutinised on January 29 while the last day for withdrawal is January 31.
Goa goes to the polls on February 14 in a single phase along with Uttarakhand that will also be voting on the same day.