The Net Worth Game: Are Politicians Scoring Better Than Industrialists?

V-Guard Industries’ Founder Chairman and philanthropist Kochouseph Chittilappilly, in a no holds barred chat with Kerala’s popular Food Vlogger Mrinal Das Vengalat, dropped a bombshell that Yusuff Ali, CMD of the multi-continent Lulu Group, may not be the richest Malayalee of Kerala origin, despite a net worth of $4.8 billion! Chittilappilly, a self-made billionaire, said the combined personal net worth of the UDF and the LDF politicians, who ruled Kerala by “default turns” over the last 20 plus years, could surpass that of Lulu’s Ali. If one were to extrapolate Chittilappilly’s observation to the entire country, then the combined net worth of politicians could well be over billions of dollars, surpassing that of combined networth of top 10 industrialists. The money-spinning arithmetic of politicians only gets eye popping every year, especially in the light of the letter written by the recently transferred Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. In his letter, he alleged that the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked the arrested Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore every month. And the maths that was allegedly given was: “There are 1,750 bars and restaurants in Mumbai. If you collect Rs 3 lakh on an average that works out to Rs 50 crore. As for the balance amount, there are other avenues.” Is India a land of “mega bucks” for the renegades?