Yeddyurappa declares assets

In a bid to blunt the opposition onslaught on him over corruption charges, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has declared his assets which include a bank balance of nearly Rs 34 lakh and three residential buildings.

Furnishing the statement of assets and liabilities in a declaration yesterday to BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Yeddyurappa said he had gold and diamond jewellery weighing 2.5 kg, up from 1.6 kg in April 2008 when he filed his affidavit before the Election Commission on April 24, 2008 during the Assembly elections.

The declaration said he had silverware vessels and ornaments (own and gift items) weighing 76 kg, compared to 25 kg in April 2008. Yeddyurappa also declared that neither he as chief minister nor any of his family members had any account in Swiss banks or any other country’s tax havens.

As on January 31, Yeddyurappa had a bank balance of nearly Rs 33.5 lakh and household goods, furniture and electronic items worth Rs 10.45 lakh.

“Hope you may find the above (the statement) as per the order required,” he said in the letter to Gadkari, which was released to the media by the chief minister’s secretariat today.

The declaration comes amid repeated allegations of corruption and nepotism in land denotification and deals levelled against Yeddyurappa, his family members and the government by JD(S) and Congress, and BJP’s clamour at the central level for bringing back black money stashed abroad. Yeddyurappa listed agriculture and non-agriculture properties owned by him, along with gold and diamond jewellery and silverware vessels and ornaments, but did not mention the value of these assets.

The CM owns 18.23 acres of agriculture land in his native Shikaripura taluk and an independent house on a 50X80 plot allotted by the Bangalore Development Authority in 1997.