Adr: Andhra Pradesh’s Jagan is India’s wealthiest CM, West Bengal’s Mamata least well-off: ADR report

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is the richest CM in the country with assets of Rs 510 crore, while West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee is the only CM who is not a crorepati, Association or Democratic Reforms (ADR), a watch group which works for political and electoral reforms, said in its latest report.
Telangana CM K C Rao tops the list with the highest number of criminal cases and financial liabilities against his name, the report said. Banerjee, with Rs 15 lakh in assets, has the least wealth among all the CMs, followed by Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan and Haryana’s M L Khattar, who have Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 1.3 crore in assets each, respectively, ADR said.
Out of the 30 chief ministers analysed, 29 (97%) are crorepatis with the average assets for each CM working out to Rs 34 crore, ADR said. ADR filed its report after analysing the poll affidavits of CMs of 28 states and two UTs.
ADR said Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu trails Jagan with assets worth Rs 163 crore, followed by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik who has Rs 63 crore in assets. KCR’s assets are worth Rs 23 crore, it said.
Patnaik’s assets are largely his immovable properties, around Rs 63.6 crore of the total Rs 63.9 crore, the total being around double of the average of assets per CM at Rs 33.9 crore. The immovable assets of the 76-year-old bachelor politician are three properties inherited by him while he has not added any on his own.
In last year’s ADR report, Jagan’s assets stood at Rs 373 crore, including assets he inherited and those he acquired, thereby topping the chart of richest CMs in the country in 2022 as well. KCR had Rs 13.7 crore in assets last year. Bihar’s Nitish Kumar had Rs 56 lakh, making him one of the “poorest” CMs in the country.
ADR said KCR has 64 criminal cases, including 37 serious offences, against him, making him the CM with the highest number of cases booked against him. A majority of the cases pending against him were booked during the agitation for statehood for Telangana. KCR also faces two charges related to punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other jail terms,ADR said. In last year’s report, ADR said KCR was among the five elected representatives in the country to have the highest number of criminal cases (64) booked against him. Kerala MP Dean Kuriakose with 204 cases topped the list, followed by DMK MP S Kathiravan who had 99 cases pending against him.
After KCR, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has the second-highest number (47) of cases pending, including 10 serious offences. Jagan with 38 cases, including 35 serious offences, stood third among CMs with the highest number of cases booked against them. However, none of these cases relate to the most heinous crimes. Out of all 30 CMs analysed, 43% have declared criminal cases against themselves.