Information Technology Minister of Andhra Pradesh Nara Lokesh – who is also the son of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu – on Friday made public the assets held by his family. This is the seventh consecutive year that the Telugu Desam Party’s chief’s family has chosen to declare its wealth.
According to the statement made by Lokesh, also the general secretary of the TDP, in the press conference organized by him, Naidu is the poorest in the family and possesses assets worth only Rs 2.53 crore, while his wife, Nara Bhuvaneswari, holds assets worth Rs 25.41 crore.
Even Naidu’s grandson, Nara Devansh, is richer than Naidu – Devansh has assets worth Rs 11.54 crore.
Lokesh added that Naidu’s liabilities exceeded his assets by Rs 3.58 crore. There has been a slight decline in his assets when compared to what was declared last year – he had declared assets worth Rs 3.73 crore with liabilities worth Rs 3.06 crore.
Nara Lokesh has assets worth Rs 15.21 crore, while his wife, Nara Brahmani, possesses assets to the tune of Rs 15.01 crore.
He used to opportunity to take a dig at the party’s political opponents and said, “People are levelling allegations against us with regard to our wealth. It is a democracy and you certainly have a right to do so. However, it would great if you level such accusations after declaring your own assets.”
Lokesh also stated that the family’s main income comes from the Heritage Group, a publicly-listed dairy-products company. The family owns 50.60 per cent of the shares in the company.
He added that the Congress government under late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy had filed nearly 20 cases against the Heritage Group, suspecting irregularities. However, they had to withdraw every case as nothing could be proved.