Telangana is going to the polls on November 30, and a total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Four of them have declared that their total assets (including those of their spouses and dependents) have increased more than tenfold in the past five years. Bhongir MLA Pailla Shekar Reddy declared the highest total assets among those re-contesting – over Rs 227 crore – nearly double the assets declared last election. Choppadandi (SC) MLA Sunke Ravishankar’s wealth went up by 1331%, from around Rs 20 lakh to nearly Rs 3 crore.
Across parties, among all candidates contesting this election, Congress leader Gaddam Vivekanand has the highest declared wealth of over Rs 606 crore. In BRS, it was again Bhongir MLA Pailla Shekar Reddy with Rs 227.5 crore total wealth declared.
The Enforcement Directorate recently searched properties linked to former MP Vivek, over allegations that his team was transporting money from Hyderabad to Chennur, where he’s contesting from. He and his family control Visaka Industries Ltd, involved in various businesses, as well as the Telugu news channel V6. Vivek's assets have gone up by 127% since 2014, when he contested the Lok Sabha election from Peddapalli. He is the son of Congress leader and former Union Minister late G Venkatswamy. Vivek was with Congress earlier too, but joined BJP a few years ago and recently returned to Congress.
Among the BJP’s candidates, Ravi Kumar Yadav from Serilingampally has declared the highest total assets – over Rs 171 crore – followed by Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind who declared Rs 107 crore worth of assets, according to affidavit data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Of the 2,290 candidates contesting from across parties, four of the top five wealthiest candidates with highest declared wealth are from Congress – after Gaddam Vivekanand, there is former Munugode MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy. Raj Gopal had quit as a Congress MLA ahead of the 2022 Munugode bye-poll, joined BJP, contested and lost to BRS. Back then, both Congress and BRS had alleged that he had switched to BJP in exchange for a Rs 18,000 crore tender floated by the Union government to his mining company Sushee Infra & Mining Limited (SIML). He recently switched back to Congress and is now contesting from Munugode again.
Ponguleti Srinivas, who is contesting from Palair, was suspended from BRS in April for alleged anti-party activities and had joined Congress a few months later. Former Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri District Congress Committee president Kumbam Anil Kumar Reddy had also briefly quit Congress to join BRS this year, but returned to the party in a couple of months. Both Pailla Shekar Reddy and Anil Kumar, some of the wealthiest candidates on paper, are contesting from Bhongir. One of BJP’s wealthiest candidates too is contesting from the same constituency.
Congress has the highest average assets among its candidates of about Rs 40 crore, followed by BRS, BJP, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and Jana Sena Party.