Why it pays to be in politics

Jayalalithaa worth Rs 25.35 cr, Karunanidhi's wealth at Rs 30 cr.

They have no occupation except politics. And yet they own assets worth crores. Three important figures in the forthcoming elections ""Sonia Gandhi who is contesting the Lok Sabha by-election from Rae Bareli; caretaker Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram, who has several cases of assets disproportionate to her income pending against her; and M Karunanidhi, who owns an empire called the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam""have all reported substantial assets.

In an affidavit, Gandhi confessed that she did not own a car and that she had lent her daughter Rs 5 lakh.

But the list of immovable assets owned by her is considerable: 2,518.450 grams of gold and other jewellery, total worth of which is Rs 10.49 lakh, 88 kg of silver amounting to Rs 11.17 lakh, three agricultural plots in village Dera Mandi and in village Sultanpur, where she has 12 bighas and 15 biswas of land (valued by her at Rs 2,19,300, citing wealth tax returns of 2005-06) and an ancestral house in Italy worth Rs 13 lakh.

The Congress president has Rs 85,338 in her savings bank account in Uco Bank and Rs 20 lakh in fixed deposits in the same bank. She owns Rs 12 lakh in RBI bonds and Rs 52,800 in UTI, besides holding 10 shares of Maruti Technical Services Pvt Ltd and 500 shares of Western India Tanneries.

Though all this adds up to less than a crore, real estate experts say the market value of the land Gandhi holds alone is worth around Rs 2 crore today as the value mentioned by her in the affidavit is only the acquisition price.

Jayalalithaa's assets are even more plentiful. All told, she is worth Rs 25.35 crore. She has Rs 20,000 in cash, owns five cars, and has Rs 2 crore in deposits in various banks, financial institutions and non-banking financial institutions. She has Rs 50,000 worth of stocks, shares, bonds and debentures.

Commercial buildings and agricultural land worth Rs 11.65 crore in Chennai and parts of Andhra Pradesh are owned by the caretaker chief minister. Her share in Jaya Publications and Sasi Enterprises is worth Rs 11 crore.

At around Rs 30 crore, Karunanidhi's wealth is nothing to sneeze at. He owns property and shares worth more than Rs 22 crore.

He has deposits in various banks to the tune of Rs 17.98 crore and three plots in the city, valued at Rs 3 crore. Jewellery valued at Rs 97.58 lakh was also owned by Karunanidhi and his wife Rajathi Ammal.

Karunanidhi who is contesting from Chepauk also revealed that he held shares to tune of Rs 20.76 lakh, owned by his daughter Kanimozhi besides a share of Rs 5.41 lakh in the city-based "Royal furniture". He also owns two cars and 21 cent of land in Madakulam village in Madurai district.

He also owns 50 per cent shares in Anjugam publications, which was not valued. His stakes in film distribution industry also were not valued.