Mumbai:
Around 8000 candidates have filed nominations for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. The wealthiest of them is the BJP’s Parag Shah – the sitting MLA from Ghatkopar East — whose current worth is is Rs 3383.06 crore according to his election affidavit.
Mr Shah’s property has increased by 575 per cent in the last 5 years. In the 2019 assembly elections, he had mentioned his assets value as Rs 550.62 crores.
“I am an honest candidate. Even my enemies have never claimed that I am not honest,” Mr Shah told NDTV today in an exclusive interview.
“A man’s wealth is not his property but his feelings,” Mr Shah said. “Many people have wealth but I have the urge to make good use of it. I believe that God has given me everything, the country has given me everything, so I should also give something… I am a leader, a businessman and also a social worker. I give more than 50 per cent of my savings for social service,” he added.
Mr Shah is the chairman of a listed company — Man Infraconstruction Ltd. — which he has been running for 25 years. Recently he became a talking point because of a brief illness. The 55-year-old brushed it off, saying, “In politics, if you cough the other person starts thinking that you have tuberculosis”.