Leaders scoff at asset disclosure

HYDERABAD: Conceal more and reveal less. This is what is going to happen when state ministers submit affidavits to the chief minister disclosing their assets by the end of August.With declaration of assets becoming a Constitutional obligation, politicians are dreaming up ways of declaring as little as possible. A former minister laughed off the Chief Minister’s direction to declare assets. “You know how we declare our assets. We only declare those that are on our names or the family members’ names. But a major portion of the assets will be on benami names and they do not have to be declared,” he pointed out. After the Union Home Ministry directed the state government to ensure compliance, the General Administration Department  (GAD) sent a circular to all the ministers, including the chief minister, to declare assets by August 31.There are already standing instructions for ministers and MLAs to declare assets to the Speaker but they are being followed more in breach.On record, the ministers, however, say they are all law-abiding citizens. Primary education minister S Sailajanath asserted he would declare assets along with liabilities by July 15.  “There is nothing wrong in revealing how much we have earned and how much we owe. According to the new guidelines, MLAs will have to file their affidavits before the Speaker and ministers before the chief minister,”  the minister said.Housing minister Kanna Lakshminarayana said he was yet to receive any such circular but said he would submit details of assets and liabilities.  These details are any way available with the Legislature Secretariat. Usually, MLAs, including ministers, have to submit these details every year by the end of March. Tribal welfare minister P Balaraju also said he has not yet seen the circular issued by the GAD.