Every Chhattisgarh minister a multimillionaire; assets average at Rs 471 mn

Newly-elected Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and all the 12 ministers in his cabinet are multimillionaires, while two of the ministers face criminal cases including on charges of forgery and cheating.

According to an analysis by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)released on Thursday, all the cabinet ministers are multimillionaires, with their average assets pegged at Rs 471.3 million.

The average assets of the ministers in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister Raman Singh's cabinet in 2013 stood at Rs 30.4 million, with 11 of the 12 ministers being multimillionaires while that of the 2008 cabinet was merely Rs 8.1 million, with only four of the 13 ministers declaring properties in excess of Rs 10 million.

The richest Minister is T. S. Singh Deo, who possesses assets in excess of Rs 5 billion, followed by Chief Minister Baghel with properties worth over Rs 230 million.

As regards criminal background, two ministers Korba lawmaker Jaisingh Agrawal and Baghel face criminal cases that include charges of forgery, cheating and rioting.

Much like in 2008 and 2013, the current cabinet has a solitary female minister.

Baghel, who was sworn in on December 17 as the state's 3rd Chief Minister, on Tuesday inducted nine new ministers to expand the cabinet to 12.