Bhubaneswar/Berhampur, Nov 7: After BJP raised question on the “substantial increase” in the value of properties of Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister's Office today said he inherited immovable properties from his parents.
The Odisha unit of BJP earlier on Sunday had sought clarification from the chief minister stating that the value of his property increased by about Rs four crore during the last two years as per the property list made public on Friday.
“While the chief minister had shown his property at Rs 7.73 crore as per the affidavit filed before the last Assembly elections in 2009, the recent property list mentioned that he owned property of about Rs 12 crore,” BJP state vice-president and party spokesman Ashok Sahu said at Berhampur.
When contacted, a CMO spokesman said: “All the immovable properties of the Chief Minister of Odisha are inherited from his parents - late Biju Patnaik and Gyan Patnaik. Among them, the rates of properties in Delhi and Haryana have been raised substantially by the Delhi and Haryana governments respectively in the last two years.”
Alleging that almost all ministers who had shown their property list in the public was under valued, Sahu said the BJP was planning to move the Enforcement Directorate under the Ministry of Finance demanding an inquiry into the properties of the cabinet ministers including the chief minister.
The property list shown by the ministers like Pradeep Maharathi, Surya Narayan Patro and Bikram Keshari Arukha were much higher (as visible of their immovable properties) than what they mentioned, Sahu alleged.
The ministers were not immediately available for comment.
