There is no dearth of crorepati candidates in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, but the story of this Samajwadi Party leader is beyond belief. Gayatri Prajapati, who has secured the Samajwadi Party ticket to contest from contentious Amethi seat, was a BPL card holder in 2002. But now his assets are worth Rs 1000 crore. According to a report in Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, Prajapati had declared his assets at Rs 1.83 crore. Prajapati came to limelight in 2011, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav announced that he had donated Rs 25 lakh to the party.
Bhaskar reports that there are 13 companies registered in the name of Prajapati’s close aides and relatives. His two sons, brother and nephew are directors in all these companies. Similarly, there are seven companies in the name of his driver. Prajapati’s son Anurag was once accused of raping a minor last year. The SP leader’s total assets are 942.5 crore. In his current affidavit to the Election Commission, Prajapati has declared only Rs 10 crore property. The annual turnover of his 13 companies is between Rs 10-100 crores, while his driver, Ramraj and a close woman have assets worth more than Rs 50 crore.
Gayatri was very close to Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has now been dethroned by his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. His candidature from the Amethi seat on SP seat is being contested by the Congress party. Amethi is one of the few stronghold of Congress in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leader Sanjay Singh’s wife Amita Singh wants to contest from the seat. The conflict of aspirations hasn’t died even as elections are set to being in Uttar Pradesh from February 11 and Congress-SP has formed an alliance to take on BJP and BSP.
Interestingly, Nazir Ahmad, Congress’ candidate from Agra South, is the richest person contesting in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017. As per an Election Watch report by the Association for Democratic Reforms, Ahmad owns total assets of over Rs 200 crores (Rs 2,11,47,10,975 in total), with movable assets of worth Rs 1,94,21,70,975 (Rs 194 crores approx) and immovable assets of Rs 17,25,40,000 (Rs 17 crores approx). Ahmad, who is a shoe businessman by profession, had lost 2012 assembly elections from the same seat to BJP’s Yogendra Upadhyay.
