Crorepati count rises to 72 in council of ministers

In the expansion on Tuesday, 19 new ministers were inducted, while five were dropped, taking the total strength to 78.The average asset of the newly-inducted ministers is Rs 8.73 crore, taking the average asset of the entire council of ministers to Rs 12.94 crore, as per the study by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Among the new ministers, MJ Akbar, Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, has declared the highest total assets of Rs 44.90 crore, followed by PP Choudhary (Rs 35.35 crore) and Vijay Goel (Rs 29.97 crore), both Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan, the report added.

The new ministers with assets over Rs 1 crore also include Ramesh Jigajinagi, Purshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Anupriya Singh Patel, Mahendra Nath, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Rajen Gohain, SS Ahluwalia, Arjun Ram Meghwal, CR Choudhary, Mansukhbhai Laxmanbhai Mandaviya and Krishna Raj.

As per ADR, nine of the total 78 Union ministers have declared total assets worth more than Rs 30 crore, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (Rs 113 crore), Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Rs 108 crore) and Power Minister Goyal Piyush Vedprakash (Rs 95 crore).

Among the newly-inducted ministers, Anil Madhav Dave, Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh and now Environment Minister, has declared the lowest asset worth Rs 60.97 lakh. A total of six ministers had declared assets less than Rs 1 crore.

Among the newly-inducted Cabinet ministers, seven have declared criminal cases against themselves, taking the total number of such ministers in the 78-member Council of Ministers to 24. 

On the age of the ministers, the study said three are aged between 31 and 40 years, 44 are between 41 and 60, while 31 are between 61 and 80. There are nine women ministers, ADR said in its analysis.