Gujarat poll contenders flaunt wealth

Polls are worth a fight but riches are worth showing off. Candidates in Gujarat appear to be in a parallel contest on who is meanly placed.

While the BJP's richest candidate in the state, C R Patil from the Navsari constituency, has declared assets worth Rs 20 crore, his Congress rival Dhansukh Rajput, who is also the richest from the party in Gujarat, has declared assets worth Rs 12.72 crore.

The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani, contesting from the Gandhinagar seat, is a millionaire having assets worth Rs 3.5 crore. But his opponent from the Congress, Suresh Patel, is closely behind with assets of Rs 2.78 crore.

Union Minister of State for Railways and the Congress nominee from Chotaudepur, Naranbhai Rathwa, has declared assets worth Rs 1.25 crore, while his rival Ramsingh Rathwa of the BJP is worth Rs 1.04 crore.

Prabhaben Taviad, the Congress nominee from Dohad seat has assets worth Rs 1.5 crore, while the BJP candidate from the constituency, Somjibhai Damor, who left Congress in 2004, has assets worth Rs one crore.

Similarly, Congress candidates from Junagadh and Porbandar, sitting MP Jasubhai Barad and Vitthal Radaria, have declared assets worth Rs 2.64 crore and Rs 2.15 crore, respectively, while their BJP rivals, Dinu Bhai Solanki and Naran Khachariya, are worth Rs 2.25 crore and Rs 5.60 crore respectively.

Other BJP candidates who are worth millions include Kiran Patel (Rajkot, Rs 6.17 crore), Kirit Solanki (Ahmedabad East, Rs 2.66 crore), Lalji Mer (Surendranagar, Rs 1.19 crore) and D C Patel (Bulsar, Rs 1.90 crore).

However, candidates of the rival Congress, too, are not behind. While Dhiru Gajera from the Surat seats are worth Rs 4.28 crore, closely following are Satyajit Gaekwad (Vadodara, Rs 3.95 crore), Dipak Babariya (Ahmedabad East, Rs 3.15 crore), Vikram Madam (Jamnagar, Rs 1.59 crore), Nilaben Thumar (Amreli, Rs 1.36 crore) and Bharatsinh Solanki (Anand, Rs 2.25 crore).

Besides, Union Textile Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, who is fighting from Panchmahals, is worth Rs 1.15 crore while Union Minister of state for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel, a Congress contestant from Kheda, has assets worth Rs 2.77 crore.

However, independent candidate Khimji Patadia leads the pack with assets worth Rs 514 crore, among the richest contestants in India in this election.