Shah's wealth up due to inheritance: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday claimed the reasons for the more than three times increase in party chief Amit Shah’s assets since 2012 have been two-fold — an increase in the value of the assets and Shah inheriting the property of his mother after she died in February 2013. 

The worth of Shah’s and his wife’s movable and immovable assets has increased from Rs 10.99 crore in 2012 to Rs 34.31 crore in 2017.

The BJP was on Monday forced to clarify on the issue after several media reports highlighted the sharp increase in the wealth of Shah and his wife. Shah is set to debut in the Rajya Sabha in August. He filed his nomination papers and the affidavit of his property details last week. 

Shah is a legislator in the Gujarat Assembly.

Senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal said Shah’s affidavit of 2012 states Shah and his wife owned movable and immovable assets worth Rs 10.99 crore. Goyal said Shah’s mother died on February 28, 2013, after which her ancestral wealth worth Rs 18.85 crore had devolved upon Shah.

“Therefore, in 2013 the value of property owned by Shah increased to Rs 29.84 crore, which in 2017 is worth Rs 34.31 crore,” Goyal said in a press statement. The minister, who has also been the party treasurer, said “much of the increase has been because of the increase in the value of the property.”