No car, no house, Sonia Gandhi still a crorepati

RAE BAREILLI, April 6: She may be the most powerful woman in the country, but Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress president, who declared her assets today while filing her nomination papers from Rae Bareilli parliamentary constituency, revealed that she neither owns a house in the country, nor a car. Her total assets, however, total around Rs 1.38 crore.
Mrs Gandhi filed her nomination papers from Rae Bareilli for the third time today. She won from here in 2004, but resigned after the office-of-profit controversy erupted, only to contest again and win in the by-election that followed.
Accompanied by son Mr Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Capt Satish Sharma, Congress legislature party leader Mr Pramod Tiwari and UP Congress Committee president Mrs Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Mrs Gandhi arrived with her cavalcade to rousing cheers from party supporters in Rae Bareilli, which used to be the seat of her mother-in-law and former Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi.
Mrs Gandhi reached the office of the returning officer around 12.20 p.m. Mr Ashok Kumar Singh, Mr Shiv Ganesh Lodi, Mr Raja Ram Tyagi and district Congress president Mr Uma Shankar Mishra proposed Mrs Gandhi’s candidature for the poll that is scheduled for 30 April here.
According to the affidavit she submitted with the returning officer, Ms Anita Singh Meshram, this afternoon, Mrs Gandhi owns an ancestral house in Italy, which was valued at Rs 18.05 lakh. The affidavit also states that she has Rs 75,000 in cash and Rs 28.61 lakh in bank deposits. She possesses mutual funds worth about Rs 20 lakh and Rs 12 lakh in Reserve Bank of India bonds.
Mrs Gandhi also owns 10 shares of Maruti Technical Services and 500 shares of Western India Tanneries. Her post office deposits total Rs 1.99 lakh while she has deposited Rs 24.88 lakh with the Public Provident Fund.
Her jewellery, which weighs about 2.5 kg, was valued at Rs 11 lakh. Mrs Gandhi also owns 88 kg of silverware worth more than Rs 18 lakh.
Two plots of agricultural land totaling around 15 bighas were valued at Rs 2,19,000. Mrs Gandhi paid Rs 5,58,000 in income tax for assessment year 2008-09 and Rs 32,512 in wealth tax.
As to her educational qualifications, Mrs Gandhi mentions a three-year course in foreign languages (English and French) completed in 1964 at the Instituto Santa Via Teresa in Turin in Italy and a certificate course in English from Lennox Cook School, Cambridge, completed in 1965. n SNS