Kapil Sibal worth 27 crores: affidavit shows

As the nominations begin, we trail the candidates. Kapil Sibal, the Congress leader, filed his papers on April 16, a day after the BSP candidate filed his.

This was filed for the Indian Express.


Chinki Sinha
April 16, 2009

As Congress leader and the party’s candidate for Lok Sabha elections
Kapil Sibal rode in an open-air jeep accompanied his wife Promila
Sibal and family members to file the nomination papers at Kripa Narain
Marg on Thursday, hundreds of supporters wearing tri-color bandanas
and waving the Congress flags cheered along the way.
“Haath nahi hoga toh kuch nahi hoga (if there is no hand, there will
be no work, no development),” Rampati, who lives in a jhuggi near
Pratap Nagar, said.
To her, the immediate worry is the rehabilitation of slum dwellers.
The Congress has stood by us always, she said. “We have always voted
for the congress. It is a family thing.”
Sibal, 60, is also the sitting member of Parliament from Chandni
Chowk. An advocate by profession, Sibal quit his practice in the
Supreme Court after he won the elections in 2004.
In his affidavit, Sibal declared assets and deposits worth more than
Rs. 31.29 crores. These include properties owned both by him and his
wife.
Most of those who came Thursday carrying flags and sweating profusely
in the sweltering heat had come from the nearby slums, hoping to
register their voice with the “sophisticated” Sibal and to show
solidarity with the party.
After delimitation, Chandni Chowk, which was the smallest constituency
in Delhi with a sizeable percentage of Muslims, now has 10 Assembly
seats and the Vaish community now constitutes the single-largest
community with more than 17 percent voters in the area.
Congress is counting on the support from unauthorized colonies in the
area and on its traditional votebanks of Dalits and Muslims. However,
with delimitation changing poll equations, Muslims now only constitute
13 percent of the total voters. Both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the
Lok Janshakti Party are eyeing the Muslim voters besides the Congress.
But Sibal said he is confident of winning the seat.
“This is yet another opportunity to continue serving the people,”
Sibal said. “I need the people’s trust and support which I accept with
all humility.”
Several Tibetans also stood near the stage and waved Congress flags.
When the government announced its plans of demolishing the Tibetan
colonies in Majnu Ka Tila, it was Sibal who had intervened. And that’s
what brought them out on Thrusday in his support.
“As refugees long ago, we came to India. They allowed us in. We
settled here and we are indebted to the Congress,” Namgyal Chozom, the
joinet secretary of the Resident Welfare Association at Majnu Ka Tila,
said. “We have been here since 1959.”
The seven sitting Congress MLAs - Mangat Ram Singhal, Haroun Yusuf,
Prahlad Singh Sahni, Kunwar Karan Singh, Anil Bhardwaj, Hari Shankar
Gupta and Rajesh Jain – from the Chandni Chowk area were also present
at the event. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit too was present and
said Sibal, who is also the minister for science and technology, is
one of the “best ministers.”
Sibal won the constituency in 2004 general elections where he garnered
more than 71 percent votes.
After Lok Janshakti Party’s Shoaib Iqbal, the party’s only MLA from
Matia Mahal, shifted to North East, Sibal said it was welcome news.
Iqbal has a considerable following in the area among its Muslim
voters.
Among the crowd of not more than 400, everyone had a reason like Amtul
Haseena, who carried ice in her hands to keep her cool. A Chawri
Bazaar resident, Haseena came all the way with her daughter because
the party handed out refreshments even though the heat was
overbearing.
“And I like him too,” she said, wiping out the sweat and reaching out
for her blood pressure pills in her bag. “They served pooris and
subzi.”