Karnataka’s richest politician MTB Nagaraj got richer by Rs 389 crore in the last three years, his latest affidavit shows. MTB Nagaraj has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its candidate in Hoskote constituency in Bengaluru Rural district. In the latest affidavit, MTB Nagaraj and his wife Shanthakumari have declared assets worth Rs 1609 crore.
In 2020, MTB Nagaraj and his wife had declared assets worth Rs 1220 crore. In 2019, before the state assembly bye-election, he had declared assets worth Rs 1201.50 crore.
In the latest affidavit, MTB Nagaraj declared that the value of his movable assets is Rs 536 crore, while his immovable assets are worth Rs 1073 crore. His assets are worth more than Congress leader DK Shivakumar who declared assets worth Rs 1,214 crore in his election affidavit.
MTB Nagaraj was one of the 17 rebel MLAs from Congress and JD(S), whose defection in July 2019 led to the fall of the coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy.
TNM had reported how dubious transactions were spotted in MTB Nagaraj's affidavit showing 53 term deposits over a five-day period amounting to over Rs 48 crore. Around the same time, Congress and JD(S) leaders in Karnataka had repeatedly alleged that rebel MLAs who quit the party were offered Rs 50 crore by the BJP.
In the subsequent bye-election in 2019, MTB Nagaraj was defeated by independent candidate Sharath Bachegowda, the son of BJP MP BN Bache Gowda. Sharath joined the Congress in 2021. Nagaraj was then made an MLC by the BJP in Karnataka.
MTB Nagaraj is a three-time legislator from Hoskote and was the Housing Minister in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2018. He opened a brick factory in 2000 called Manjunatha Table Bricks, which is now popularly referred to as MTB. He runs several small-scale industries, wedding halls and commercial establishments. His wife Shantakumari is a homemaker.