O Panneerselvam's family income, land holdings zoomed in last 10 years

Wife Vijayalakshmi now owns 32 acres and reported income of Rs 46 lakh in FY15

He might not be anywhere close to rival V K Sasikala and her extended family in money power. However, Tamil Nadu’s caretaker chief minister, O Panneerselvam, and his family have seen their income and assets grow steadily during his four terms in the state assembly, in three of which he has held the post of CM at some point. 

Business Standard analysed asset declaration affidavits by OPS, as he is now generally referred to, in the assembly elections of 2006, 2011 and 2016. And, finds steady growth. In fact, he had declared a pending case of disproportionate assets against him in his 2011 affidavit. This seems to have been initiated under the rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) rule during 2006-11. But, by 2016, there was no such case pending, meaning it was disposed of after his AIADMK was voted back to power in 2011. 

Though OPS first became an MLA in 2001, his asset details at this point are not known, as the declaration requirements were put in place by the Election Commission of India only in 2002. 

In 2006, when he won from the Periyakulam constituency, he declared total assets of Rs 20.81 lakh. Much of this — about Rs 15.5 lakh — was in liquid assets. While he held Rs  1.44 lakh in cash and Rs 1.56 lakh in his Chennai bank account, wife P Vijayalakshmi held Rs 3.74 lakh in cash and Rs 8.76 lakh in a bank account in Periyakulam. She had jewels worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. 

Panneerselvam owned an acre in Thenkarai village, valued at Rs 1 lakh. The couple’s family home in Periyakulam was declared to be worth Rs 2.72 lakh. For financial year 2005-06, Vijayalakshmi declared an income of Rs 36,251. For the husband, it was said, “Year income is below ceiling. So, no tax. Filing of returns still pending.”

An e-mail seeking comments, sent to the official e-mail ID given in the affidavits, did not elicit a response. 

In 2006-11, Panneerselvam was in the opposition. By the time the next election came in May 2011, he changed his constituency to neighbouring Bodinayakanur. 

The assets and liabilities showed some major changes. The family took a few loans and created some assets. He’d apparently taken a Rs 4 lakh vehicle loan for purchase of a Mahindra Jenio car. His wife took a personal loan of Rs 8.5 lakh, a Rs 2.8 lakh housing loan that went into further development at the family home and another loan of Rs 15 lakh from a person named Anbumani. Total liabilities of the family stood at Rs 34.67 lakh.

On the assets side, Vijayalakshmi bought two bits of agricultural land totalling 21.92 acres in Thamaraikulam village, near Periyakulam, in March 2010 and March 2011. This was worth Rs 24.2 lakh. The spruced home was now estimated to be worth Rs 10 lakh. The couple also picked up 7,600 shares in the Periyakulam cooperative bank. 

After including cash and bank balances of about Rs 10 lakh and jewellery, the total assets stood at about Rs 60.3 lakh. In the 2011 affidavit, Panneerselvam declared Rs 3.62 lakh as annual income for the year ended March 2009. 

During the 2011-2016 period, Panneerselvam was the clear Number 2 in the Jayalalithaa cabinet. He held the finance and public works portfolios. And, stepped in as the CM when she had to sit out, following conviction by a court in the disproportionate assets case. 

At the end of this period, when he filed the affidavit for the 2016 assembly elections, Panneerselvam had become a crorepati. 

A Toyota Innova joined his portico and his wife’s land holding jumped to 32 acres, valued at Rs 78 lakh. There was a discrepancy in the land holding figures between the 2011 and 2016 affidavits. 

While, the earlier affidavit said Vijayalakshmi had bought 6.84 acres in March 2011 for Rs 8.42 lakh, the 2016 affidavit said she’d bought 17.35 acres on that date, though the purchase price remained the same. 

The market value of this property, in the 2016 affidavit, was Rs 48 lakh. She bought another plot of 18.5 cents in 2014 for Rs 4 lakh. The family home is now worth Rs 20 lakh. Along with cash and bank balances of around Rs 10 lakh, total assets of the Panneerselvams stood at Rs 1.53 crore.

Having invested a little over Rs 5 lakh in irrigation, Vijayalakshmi’s agriculture income has seen a spurt. In 2014-15, she earned Rs 46.33 lakh, around eight times her husband, who reported an income of Rs 5.8 lakh, broadly in line with the emoluments of MLAs in the state. 

While the wife was debt-free, the CM owes her Rs 16.66 lakh in addition to a bank loan of Rs 8.34 lakh, taking his total liabilities to Rs 25 lakh.

Source: Affidavits filed Election Commission