Authenticity of ADR report must be verified: Sitaram Yechury

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said the authenticity of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, according to which the assets of NDA ministers has increased significantly after coming to power, must be verified.

When asked to comment upon the report on assets of NDA ministers, Yechury said, "I am aware of such a report, the authenticity of this report must be verified by the government or some other agency. One of the main promises that this government has made to the people is that they are against corruption."

"In the last three years or so, people were very upset with corruption and voted against corruption, the current government benefitted a lot from it. If the report is true, then it is evident what is going on," Yechury added.

Earlier, an analysis was done by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) by comparing the value assets of Cabinet Minister's filed for the Lok Sabha elections in May with those sent about five months later to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

According to ADR report, Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley is the richest minister of the NDA, as his assets rose from Rs 113.02 crore during the Lok Sabha polls to Rs 114.03 crore in disclosure to the PMO showing an increase of Rs.1.01 crore.

Meanwhile, Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda's assets have shown an increase of Rs 10.46 crore since he took over as minister, from Rs 9.88 crore to Rs 20.35 crore. Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Radhakrishnan P. has shown an increase of Rs 2.98 crore.

However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's wealth has fallen by Rs 3.89 crore from Rs 17.55 crore to Rs 13.65 crore.