Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Prasad Lad is the richest candidate in the upcoming legislative council elections scheduled on June 20. Lad has declared assets worth over ₹152 crore in his affidavit. NCP nominee Eknath Khadse, a former minister in the BJP government who had resigned following allegations of misusing his office, has declared assets of ₹36.17 crore. Khadse is also being probed over money laundering charges. City Congress chief Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap’s affidavit mentions houses in Bandra and properties in Dubai.
Lad is the fifth candidate fielded by the BJP after leader of opposition in the legislative council Pravin Darekar, former minister Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya and Uma Khapre. Lad needs more votes than what he will get from the party kitty to get elected for which he would have to woo independent MLAs and lawmakers from smaller parties.
BJP has 106 votes on the basis of which the party can elect the first four candidates as each candidate required 27 votes.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, has fielded two candidates each — Sachin Ahir and Aamsha Padvi from Sena, Eknath Khadse and Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar from NCP, and Bhai (Ashok) Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore from Congress.
Meanwhile, Lad, in his nomination form for the elections, declared movable assets of ₹87.99 crore and immovable assets worth ₹64.52 crore, owned by him, his wife Neeta, three dependent children and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF).
Interestingly, during the last council polls in 2017, Lad, who is an industrialist with businesses in housekeeping, security, and engineering services, had declared assets of ₹210 crore.
The BJP leader owns commercial properties in Sion and Pune and residential properties at Matunga, Chembur, Panvel and a bungalow in Goa, among others. The family also owes ₹78.36 crore which includes loans taken from banks and private entities, states the affidavit.
Khadse, who is a former revenue minister, declared assets worth ₹36.17 crore jointly owned by his wife and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). The family owns movable assets worth ₹5.21 crore and immovable assets worth ₹30.95 crore. They own residential, agricultural and non-agricultural properties in Jalgaon, Nashik, Pune and Buldhana. His wife Mandakini owns a Mahindra Jeep worth ₹85,000.
Khadse is facing money laundering charges. Recently, the enforcement directorate issued him a notice to vacate properties attached to them. Another NCP candidate and council chairman also declared assets worth ₹34 crore.
He may be a labour union leader, but Ashok aka Bhai Jagtap, the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MPCC) has an enviable address that most of his followers from the toiling classes cannot aspire to gain. Jagtap (66), who is the Congress nominee in the state legislative council elections, stays at Mon Repos society in Bandra (West), which is located at a stone’s throw from superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s palatial bungalow ‘Mannat.’ Apart from two flats in the society, Jagtap and his wife Tejaswini also own landed property at Marina Sail and Discovery Garden in Dubai, and at Madh, Murud in Raigad, Lonavala, Chiplun and Mandangad in Ratnagiri, and an under-construction flat at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai. Jagtap also has a commercial unit at Jumeirah Lake Tower in Dubai.
Put together, Jagtap, who also describes himself as a trade union leader and businessman in his election affidavit, and his wife have immovable property worth a market value of over ₹13.09 crore and ₹15.02 crore each, apart from liquid assets of ₹17.40 crore and ₹2.97 crore respectively. His Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and dependents have ₹12.84 lakh and ₹1.29 crore of movable assets.
On the other side of the Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL), another labour union leader Sachin Ahir, who is the Shiv Sena’s candidate and former MLA from Worli, and his wife Sangeeta own landed property with a market value of over ₹4.56 crore and ₹18.51 crore, respectively. This includes two flats in Worli, one at Chembur, agricultural land at Maval in Pune and Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri and non-agricultural land in Pune. The couple also has movable assets of ₹3.69 crore and ₹9.66 crore, respectively.
Pravin Darekar, leader of opposition in the state legislative council and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s nominee, his wife Sayali, son Yash and mother Sharda, have movable assets of ₹92.21 lakh, ₹28.98 lakh, ₹3.69 lakh and ₹2.21 lakh, respectively. The Darekar couple also owns non-agricultural land at Mahad, commercial property at Dahisar, Mahad, and Poladpur in Raigad and residential property at Borivali, Dahisar and Mahad, with the total current market value of these fixed assets at ₹2.30 crore and ₹4.18 crore, respectively.
Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, the chairperson of the state legislative council and the nominee of the NCP and his wife Rekhadevi aka Vaidehi have liquid assets worth ₹68.35 lakh and ₹58.07 lakh, respectively. They also own immovable assets, including residential properties at Phaltan in Satara, Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur, which are valued at ₹25.35 crore and ₹8.19 crore, respectively.
The BJP’s Ramdas aka Ram Shinde, a former minister, his wife Asha and children Anvita and Ajinkya, have cash, gold and liquid assets worth ₹1.08 crore, ₹64.60 lakh, ₹3.26 lakh and ₹5 lakh. Shinde and his wife also own immovable property worth ₹1.14 crore and ₹1.40 crore.