The powerful coronavirus also failed to affect the income of politicians
Hyderabad: The Covid-19 lockdown had affected crores of people who had no or low wages. With customers confined to their homes, it pushed millions of businesses into losses and many closed down. However, some politicians appear to have resisted this trend.
A study of affidavits filed by politicians contesting the Lok Sabha elections shows that their income was not affected by the pandemic. In fact, it increased significantly between 2019-20 and 2022-23, the Covid years.
The total income shown by M. Raghunandan Rao (BJP, Medak) was Rs 9.97 lakh in 2019-20 and Rs 19.18 lakh in 2020-21, an increase of about Rs 10 lakh. His income in 2021-22 was Rs 4.89 lakh after exemption of constituency allowance of Rs 27.6 lakh. According to the election affidavit, his income in 2022-23 was Rs 1.33 crore.
B Vinod Kumar (BRS, Karimnagar) showed an income of Rs 11.41 lakh in 2018-19. It increased to Rs 19.48 lakh in 2019-20 and to Rs 33.42 lakh in 2020-21. His income was slightly less at Rs 33.28 lakh in 2021-22 and Rs 33.13 lakh in 2022-23.
The income of Velichala Rajendra Rao (Congress, Khammam) increased from Rs 1.65 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 2.36 crore in 2019-20.
Konda Visvesvara Reddy (BJP, Chevella)’s income declined from Rs 21.45 crore in FY 2019-20 to Rs 4.65 crore in 2022-23, but his wealth increased significantly.
Vishveshwar Reddy has declared his family assets, including that of wife Sangeeta Reddy and son Viraj Reddy, at Rs 4,568 crore. G Ranjith Reddy (Congress, Chevella) showed an income of Rs 3.6 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 5.12 crore in 2020-21.
