Poor men's cabinet: Kerala CM owns no car, FM has no land

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan doesn't own a vehicle. TM Thomas Isaac, his cabinet colleague holding the finance portfolio, is landless, with no bit of gold in his kitty. Another minister, Ramachandran Kadannappalli, who is in charge of ports and museum, pegs his monthly income at Rs 1,000.

At the end of the day, when all the 19 ministers in the Kerala cabinet revealed the details of their assets, there emerged only one crorepati (millionaire): A K Balan, with a bank deposit of Rs. 2.35 crore.

However, much of his wealth has come largely from his wife Dr P K Jameela, who is a medical consultant with Ardram Mission after her retirement from regular service. Balan, who hails from Nadapuram in Malabar, is the legislator from Tarur in Palakkad district, His wife earns a monthly salary of Rs 90,000 alongside a pension of Rs 52,000. In gold earnings too, the 66-year-old minister, who takes care of the welfare of SC/ST communities, besides law, culture and parliamentary affairs, leads the pack.

When a chunk of the Kerala ministers submitted in their affidavit that their monthly earnings totalled Rs 55,012 they draw as salary, G Sudhakaran holding the PWD portfolio stated that his income in the period was Rs. 98,540, courtesy allowances and perks. Officials scrutinising the ministers' affidavits are at a loss to explain how Kadannappally's monthly income is just Rs 1,000.

Ministers Mathew T. Thomas and K. Raju own three vehicles each. Those without vehicles are Sudhakaran, M.M. Mani, TP Ramakrishnan and P Thilothaman besides the CM. Rest in the cabinet own one vehicle each.

In the list of gold owners, second comes Kadakampally Surendran. Ramakrishnan and K.T. Jaleel have no gold assets.

A C Moideen has modest bank deposits totalling Rs 6.38 lakh, yet much ahead of Mani (62,223), Kadannappalli (Rs 63,822) and Isaac (1.4 lakh) and a shade above K.K. Shailaja (Rs. 5.39 lakh).

Ministers with insurance investments are Jaleel (Rs 1.10 crore), Moideen (Rs 70 lakh), Sudhakaran (Rs 57 lakh) and Mathew (Rs 51 lakh). Nine other ministers, including the CM, own no insurance policies, as per the affidavits.

Those relatively richer in the list have claimed that their wealth comes from inherited or already-acquired assets such as property, car and gold. The tacit message: no money has come through their position as a minister. It is another matter that Surendran owns three houses, and Raju runs a mill that pounds foodgrains.

Kerala ministers had first revealed their assets for the period 2012-14. The last cabinet meeting had decided to go public with the list.