The past 10 years have been good to Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. So good, in fact, that the Sasikala loyalist who faces a vote of confidence in the Assembly on Saturday saw his and his family’s assets increase by more than 461 per cent in that period.
According to his affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India, assets owned by Palaniswami and his kin headed north from a modest Rs 1.39 crore in 2006 to more than Rs 7.80 crore in the span of two Assembly elections.
Incidentaily, the Supreme Court earlier this week found V Sasikala and two of her associates guilty in a disproportionate assets case. Former CM J Jayalalithaa was also named, but the case against her was abated following her death.
A major increase has been in the share of Palaniswami’s wife and his first dependent son Mithun in two firms, Balaji Blue Metals Kootanmai Niruvnam and Harish Krupa. His wife’s share in the firms comes to just a little over Rs 84 lakh, while the son’s share is about Rs 34 lakh.
The third dependent, Mithun’s wife Divya, owns a stake in Sri Andal Paper mills in Erode, with a total worth of about Rs 1.12 crore.
The total worth of the dependents share comes to about Rs 2.33 crore. However, Palaniswami holds no personal stake in Balaji Blue Metals, Harish Krupa or in Sri Andal paper mills. In terms of jewellery, Palaniswami added 20 grammes of gold, which is a 25% increase over 2006, but an increase in gold prices has meant the value of this investment has risen by over 420 per cent.
Palaniswami and his family put most of their faith in realty: their land holdings went from six to 21. Palaniswami’s holding in agricultural land has gone up from 6.45 acres in 2006 to 15.65 acres in 2016.
Between 2011 and 2016, six agricultural plots were purchased in the name of his son and daughter-in-law, even as the total worth of land holdings rose to Rs 3.58 crore, an increase of over 90 per cent since 2011.
Otherwise, Palaniswami seems to be a long-term investor who is still holding on to two non-agricultural plots measuring 1,534 sq ft and 960 sq ft purchased in December 2008. The value of total non-agricultural land holding between him and his wife has more than doubled from around Rs 7 lakh to almost Rs 18 lakh from 2011 to 2016. In terms of residential holdings, the chief minister’s wife in 2006 held properties worth Rs 33 lakh. In 2016, her residential properties were valued at Rs 90 lakhs, a rise of 172 per cent.
The CM and his family, however, don’t seem to be big fans of the formal financial sector: in the 10 years analysed, they did not purchase a single insurance policy, whether from the public sector, or private. In terms of bank deposits, the CM’s and his familý bank deposits grew by more than 3 times to 13.61 lakh in 2016 from the 2006 level of 4.43 lakh.
In fact, the affidavit suggests that Prime Minister Modi’s demonetization exercise probably took a toll on the family’s cash holdings, which had grown to Rs 11.35 lakh in 2016 from Rs 3.75 lakh in 2006. Palaniswami himself held Rs 5.15 lakh in his hand, while his son held Rs 5.20 lakh.
If the affidavit is anything to go by, then at least in the first half of 2016, the CM and his family were without a car. In 2011, the family had a Tata Manza and a Chevrolet Spark; in 2006, they had an Ambassador and a Tata Sumo.
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