Samajwadi Party out of power but still richest party in UP

The Samajwadi Party is perhaps out of power but it is still the richest party in the state. The Akhilesh Yadav-managed party still has the maximum wealth since 2017.

The Samajwadi Party declared the highest assets under the head of fixed deposits worth Rs 468.05 crore during FY 2016-17 which further jumped to Rs 482.23 crore a year later. Though it was just a jump of 2.1 per cent, but the sheer amount of asset makes it the richest regional party, according to the latest report on regional parties, published by poll watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Samajwadi Party, that was founded on the ideals of Ram Manohar Lohia and thrived on socialism today, has its peers envious. Interestingly, the report comes at a time when party stalwart Azam Khan is being probed by agencies for alleged corruption.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United has witnessed a massive jump in assets in just one year - 298 per cent to be precise. But in terms of worth of assets, Akhilesh Yadav's party appears to be the richest regional party.

The ADR report made some more startling revelations.

The JD-U wasn't alone, during Financial Year 2016-17 and 2017-18, the total assets of both Karnataka's Janata Dal-Secular and the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti rose by more than 100 per cent, at 102.9 per cent and 100.4 per cent, respectively.

But then, there are other political parties as well which have suffered losses in fortune like Bihar's Lok Janshakti Party that witnessed a drop of 34.8 per cent of its assets in just one year. Likewise, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha suffered a drop of 15 per cent while, Haryana's Indian National Lok Dal witnessed a drop of 5.9 per cent in its assets worth.

As for liabilities, Tamil Nadu's DMK declared highest liabilities during FY 2016-17, amounting to Rs 7.877 crore under "borrowings". During FY 2017-18, the Telugu Desam Party declared the highest liabilities under "borrowings" amounting to Rs 22.56 crore.

Political parties like the Lok Janshakti Party, the Hill State People's Democratic Party (Meghalaya), the Zoram Nationalist Party (Mizoram), the Peoples Party of Arunachal, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, the Mizoram People's Conference, and the Mizo National Front have shown zero liability.

( With inputs from IANS )