At Rs 72.10 cr Jaitley is richest minister; Modi has assets of Rs 1.26 cr

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assets worth Rs 1.26 crore while Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stands out as the richest minister with assets totalling Rs 72.10 crore.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is among the union ministers who has the least assets of Rs 20.45 lakh, according to the Assets and Liabilities declared by the prime minister and other 44 members of the Council of Ministers made public on Monday.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, daughter-in-law of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has assets to the tune of Rs 37.68 crore. Minister of State for Coal and Power Piyush Goyal has assets of Rs 31.67 crore and is closely followed by Minorities Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla with assets to the tune of Rs 29.70 crore.

Notably, 17 out of 22 Cabinet Ministers are crorepatis including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The five cabinet ministers who are not crorepatis are Naidu with assets worth Rs 20.45 lakh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan with Rs 39.88 lakh, Labour and Employment Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has assets worth Rs 44.90 lakh.

Health Minister Harshvardhan has assets of Rs 48.54 lakh, while Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar with Rs 60.62 lakh worth of assets.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assets to the tune of Rs 2.56 crore, while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assets worth Rs 2.73 crore besides some agriculture land in Palwal of Haryana.

Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has declared assets to the tune of Rs 14.91 crore, while Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has assets of Rs 3.34 crore.

Railways Minister DV Sadananda Gowda is worth about Rs 4.34 crore, while his junior Manoj Sinha has declared assets worth Rs 29.82 crore. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has declared assets to the tune of Rs 1.62 crore.

Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, who is the tribal face of the Modi cabinet, has assets to the tune of Rs 1.77 crore, while Civil Aviation Minister has assets worth Rs 3.32 crore.

Mirco, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra has assets to the tune of Rs 72.11 lakh, while Prakash Javadekar has assets of about Rs 1.05 crore. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has assets to the tune of Rs 2.47 crore, while Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot has assets worth about Rs 2.08 crore.

The youth face of Modi's cabinet, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has declared assets of around Rs 4.15 crore, while Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete has assets of Rs 1.66 crore.

Minister of State for North East Gen V K Singh, who is the former army chief, has declared assets worth Rs 68.76 lakh, while Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assets to the tune of Rs 1.03 crore.

Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh has assets of Rs 2.67 crore while MoS Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju is worth around Rs 66.55 lakh. MOS Heavy Industries P Radhakrishnan has declared his assets of around Rs 7.11 crore, while MOS Tribal Affairs Mansukhbhai Vasava has declared his assets of around Rs 69.49 lakh.

Sudarshan Bhagat, the MOS for Social Justice and Empowerment, is worth Rs 44.51 lakh.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters