Party no bar as MPs grow richer

Twenty-six Members of Parliament belonging to different parties turned richer by more than 500 per cent between 2009 and 2014, as per declaration of assets made by the lawmakers. Four of them registered more than 1,200 per cent rise.

Most of the MPs have various business interests, which perhaps catapulted their assets as they got reelected after five years. The data forms a part of a petition filed in the Delhi High Court by the Associations of Democratic Reforms and PRS Legislative Research.

The rise in the assets of MPs has been in the spotlight amid BJP's charges, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, against Congress president that the latter clocked a 250 per cent growth in his properties.

Kamlesh Paswan of BJP, ET Mohammed Basheer of IUML leader, Sisir Kumar Adhikari of Trinamool Congress, ADMK's P Venugopal, and Kodikunnil Suresh of Congress are among the top gainers in terms of assets.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's assets moved upward from Rs 1,37,94,768 to Rs 9,28,95,288 between 2009 and 2014. 

That's a jump of nearly 570 per cent. SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and minister of finance Arjun Ram Meghwal too have seen their assets increase by over 500 per cent.

The astronomical rise in assets is what differentiates a politician's income from earnings in other sectors. Currently, pay and perks of MPs, MLAs and other political executives that also include the Prime Minister show that their incomes other than assets are way below the pay packets of corporate executives.

Here is a rough break up. An MP is entitled to take home Rs 1,40,000, which includes monthly salary, constituency and office allowance. This together with all the allowances and perks brings the annual income of an MP to roughly Rs 35 lakh.