Rahul has assets worth Rs15.8 crore, but no car

AMETHI: Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s assets have grown from Rs 9.4 crore in 2014 to over Rs 15.8 crore presently.

As per the affidavit filed by Gandhi while submitting his nomination for the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday, he has movable assets to the tune of Rs 5,80,58,799 and immovable assets worth Rs 10,08,18,284, taking the total worth of his assets to Rs 15,88,77,083.

However, the Congress President does not own a car.

Gandhi owns two commercial spaces in Gurugram, the market value of which is Rs 8,75,70,000. He also has agricultural land worth Rs 1,32,48,284 that he jointly owns with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The affidavit also shows that his total income for the year 2017-18 was Rs 1,11,85,570. Gandhi stated that his source of income was his salary as an MP, royalty income, rents, interest from bonds and dividends and capital gains from mutual funds.

The affidavit showed that he has loans worth Rs 72,01,904 from various banks and financial institutions, out of which he owes Rs 5,00,000 as personal loan to his mother Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress President also has Rs 17,93,693 as deposits in various banks and investments worth Rs 5,19,44,682 in bonds, debentures and shares.

He has investments worth Rs 39,89,037 in National Savings Scheme (NSS), postal savings, insurance policies and financial instruments in post office or insurance companies.

The affidavit shows that Gandhi also owns 333.300 gram of gold jewellery valued at Rs 2,91,367.

The Congress President declared that he has five cases against him. Out of those, four are defamation cases registered in Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra.

The fifth case is a private complaint registered in Delhi’s Patiala House Court by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy alleging conspiracy to criminally misappropriate and cheat the shareholders of Associated Journals.

As for his educational qualification, Gandhi stated that he has a M.Phil degree in Development Studies from the Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Rafale issue is not a setback for the government and alleged that the Congress President has not only misinterpreted the court’s verdict but also indulged in contempt of court by attributing words to the apex court which were not in the judgement.

In a scathing attack on Gandhi and his party, she said: “We all know Congress President probably doesn’t read even half a paragraph, but by saying that the court has accepted that there is some corruption in the deal, and by also saying that the court has said ‘chowkidaar chor hai’... These verge on contempt of court.” She said the president of a party which has ruled the country for so long has “completely shown his frustration by attributing words which were not said by the court”.

“Has court said anything to this effect? It is (not) gross contempt of the court?” Sitharaman said at a press conference.

She said the court only allowed some leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement but Rahul Gandhi referred to the judgement and said the court has accepted that there was corruption in the deal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was involved in it.

“The court has only asked to produce the documents. The court has not said that these documents are not stolen. Our plea was that these documents are stolen. Whatever the court wants us to produce we have produced and are producing right down... Our objection was that these documents were illegally obtained and partially produced,” she said.

“The Congress party can churn as many lies as it can but the people of this country know the truth,” she added.

Welcoming the court judgement, Gandhi had earlier said that “truth has prevailed” and challenged the Prime Minister for a debate on the deal.

Speaking to the media after filing his nomination papers in Amethi, Gandhi said, “A few days ago, the Prime Minister gave an interview to a news channel. On questions related to the Rafale deal, he said that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit.

Indo-Asian News Service