The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Naidu son’s assets jumped from Rs 14.50 cr to Rs 330 cr in 5 months
ANDHRA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL POLLS
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son N Lokesh’s personal assets have drastically increased from Rs 14.50 crore in October 2016 to around Rs 330 crore by the end of February as he declared their true market value.
Lokesh, 34, filed an affidavit on Monday declaring his and his family’s assets to the Election Commission when he filed his nomination to contest for a berth in the Legislative Council.
In the affidavit, Lokesh declared Rs 273,83,94,996 as movable assets in the form of shares in the family-owned Heritage Foods Ltd.
Heritage Foods, earlier promoted by Chandrababu Naidu’s family, was partially sold off to Future Retail Ltd, led by Kishore Biyani, on November 8 last year. Heritage Foods retains 3.65 per cent stake through Rs 295 crore worth of freshly issued shares. Lokesh was the executive director in Heritage Foods.
Lokesh declared immovable assets worth Rs 18 crore, inheritance worth Rs 38.51 crores and and liabilities of Rs 6.28 crore, totalling around Rs 330 crore.
In October 2016, Lokesh had declared total assets of Rs 14.50 crore and liabilities of Rs 6.35 crore. His wife Brahmani owned assets worth Rs 5.38 crore while his one-year-old son Devansh owned assets worth Rs 11.17 crore, including a inherited house valued at Rs 9.17 crore and Rs 2 crore in fixed deposits.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Lokesh said he did not acquire assets in the last five months. “My declaration of assets last October was based on acquisition value. EC guidelines stipulate that the true market value should be disclosed so I declared the assets’ value as per latest market rates. I had inherited Heritage Foods shares from my father in 1998 and I own 23,66,400 shares and the market value of each share was less than Rs 200 till 2010. Now the share value is around Rs 1,100 which increased the total value of the shares that I own to Rs 273 crore,’’ he said.
Lokesh added: “The value of the house was also calculated according to existing market rates while it cost us a few thousand rupees when we purchased it in 1989. I have not purchased or acquired any new assets recently.”
He said his wife owned 1 lakh shares in Heritage Foods while his mother Bhuvaneshwari owned 53 lakh shares.