Hyderabad: A dramatic 23-fold jump in the assets of Nara Lokesh, son of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over the last five months has triggered a major political storm in the state with the opposition parties raising questions about it.
“My family had earned this wealth through hard work with honesty and integrity,” Lokesh said at a media conference on Thursday in Vijaywada. “Jagan is accused No.1 in 12 cases, has he ever declared his assets,” he asked referring to the questions raised by the YSR Congress party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy and his newspaper.
Nara Lokesh, 34, who is contesting the legislative council election and was likely to join his father’s cabinet soon declared assets of Rs3.30 billion (Dh181.49 million) in an affidavit filed along with his nomination papers. In October last year, he had declared assets of only Rs145 million.
Chandrababu Naidu declares assets owned by him as well as all his family members every year with the professed aim of upholding transparency in public life. However, the sudden surge in the assets of his son raised eyebrows in political circles.
Lokesh, who is general secretary of the ruling Telugu Desam party, denounced the opposition parties for their criticism of him and alleged that they were indulging in a campaign of false propaganda against him. “They are trying to mislead the people on this issue,” he said.
Explaining the rise in his wealth, Nara Lokesh said that in October last he had declared only the value of the assets including the share in Heritage Foods company at the time of the purchase. “But now, according to the guidelines of the Election Commission, I have declared the present market value of the assets.” The shares in Heritage Foods worth Rs2.73 billion accounted for the biggest chunk of his assets.
Heritage Foods, promoted by Chandrababu’s family and helmed by his wife Bhuvaneshwari, sold its retail business wing in November last year to the Future Group owned by Kishore Biyani. Heritage Foods retained only 3.65 per cent stake worth Rs2.95 billion and Lokesh’s share in it was only Rs25.2 million. But, according to the affidavit filed by Lokesh, the worth of his shares has gone up to Rs2.73 billion.
While the opposition was raising questions about the mindboggling increase in Lokesh’s assets, he said that it reflected the sharp rise in the share price of the new company following its sale to the Future group. He contended that comparing the current value of his assets with the earlier value was wrong because the shares were purchased long ago. “What I have mentioned in the affidavit to the EC is the current market price of the assets,” he said.
Lokesh’s other assets include immovable assets to the tune of Rs180 mllion and ancestral property worth Rs385.2 million. On the liabilities side, he showed a Rs62.7-million loan. The value of assets of Lokesh’s wife Brahmani has gone up from Rs53.8 million in October to Rs280 million and the assets in the name of his two-year old son were put at Rs117 million.
As per the annual declaration of assets of the entire family made in October last year by Lokesh, Chandrababu Naidu had assets of Rs6.7 million and Bhuvaneshwari had assets of Rs336.6 million. Lokesh said that though his father hails from a farmer’s family, he had never declared agriculture as his profession.
