Dipali files nomination, declares 3.07cr assets

Bhubaneswar/Jharsuguda: Dipali Das, the 26-year-old daughter of slain health minister Naba Kisore Das, has declared net assets worth around Rs 3.07 crore in her affidavit, making her the richest candidate so far in the run-up to the Jharsuguda bypoll, scheduled on May 10.
Dipali, who is contesting on a BJD ticket and whose father was among the richest MLAs in Odisha, submitted her nomination papers on Tuesday. Her affidavit states that she neither owns jewellery nor a car. Dipali, who completed her BCom from K C College, Mumbai, in 2018 and MBA from EU Business School at Barcelona, Spain, in 2020, described herself as an entrepreneur and showed her income as Rs 72.87 lakh in her income tax return for 2021-22.
While her bank balance would come around to Rs 23 lakh, three of her total eight accounts in different banks in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda have zero balance. Her affidavit showed she did not have any investments in insurance and mutual funds and that she inherited around Rs 40 lakh from her late father.
As per Dipali’s affidavit, her mother Minati owns huge assets. While Minati’s income tax return for 2021-22 showed her earnings as Rs 4.68 crore, the total value of her net property is pegged at Rs 19.44 crore.
It must be mentioned that according to an analysis of poll affidavits of MLAs by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) in 2019, Naba’s declared assets had placed him as the second richest legislator with assets worth Rs 33.62 crore, behind chief minister Naveen Patnaik (Rs 63.87 crore).
While Naba, as per his property statement submitted to the government last year, owned a fleet of 70 vehicles — mostly goods carriers and some luxury cars — Dipali owns only an excavator (used for mining activities) worth Rs 42.13 lakh, her affidavit read.
As per the affidavits of her rivals, BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy (41) owns immovable properties worth around Rs 92 lakh and movable assets of about Rs 52 lakh, while Congress candidate Tarun Pandey (44) has property of around Rs 5.57 lakh.
After filing her papers, Dipali exuded confidence of winning by a huge margin. “Seeing such a huge support, I can feel people’s love and support for my father and our family. I have the blessing of our chief minister. I will win and carry forward my father’s development work,” Dipali said.