Poll affidavit shows Rajnath Singh has no car but owns two guns

LUCKNOW: Union home minister Rajnath Singh and his wife own assets worth Rs 5 crore, according to the affidavit he filed along with his nomination papers for the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday. This is up by nearly Rs 2 cr from the Rs 2.9-cr assets that Singh had declared jointly with his wife in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Singh does not own a vehicle, but has a .32 bore revolver and a double-barrel gun, according to the affidavit. Singh and his wife jointly own 800gm of gold worth nearly Rs 26 lakh.

Rajnath’s movable assets account for Rs 2 crore, while immovable assets are pegged at around Rs 3 crore. These include land holdings in five villages — Bhabhaura, Janipur, Musahibpur, Baghapur and Baheliyapur — in Chandauli district. He has a total of nearly five hectares of land in his possession. He does not own a commercial plot.

A science postgraduate from Gorakhpur University, Singh owns a 272-sqmt house in Vipul Khand, Gomtinagar in Lucknow. He bought the place in 1997 at a cost of Rs 3.6 lakh, the affidavit shows. He has no criminal offence registered against him.

According to the affidavit, his annual income in 2017-18 was Rs 19 lakh, up by around 45% compared to 2016-17 when it was under Rs 13 lakh. In 2013-14, before taking charge as home minister, Rajnath had declared an annual income of just over Rs 10 lakh.

Before filing his papers, Singh told reporters: “I have been touring many states and have seen that the faith of people in PM Modi has increased since 2014. Today, everyone wants Modi to be PM again”.