The financial condition of ministers in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet has displayed a very interesting trend. While the ministers themselves go poorer by the day, their wives are getting richer instead! Sounds bizarre but that’s what reveals the details of assets as declared by the ministers in the year-end. There are a total of 33 ministers in Bihar, including the chief minister.

Topping the chart of such ministers is deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi who is pretty poorer than his wife in all aspects—either in the matter of owning immovable property, cash in hand or jewellery. As per his own declaration, Modi has total investments worth Rs 1.26 crore against his wife’s investments totalling Rs1.65 crore. Similarly, Modi has total bank deposits of Rs 81.54 lakh whereas his wife has Rs 97.17 lakh. Again, Modi has just 105 grams of gold while his wife owns nearly half kilogram of gold.

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Water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha has a similar story to tell. Jha, who is a partner in two big business firms, DLF and Peach Tree, claims to have only Rs 9, 850 cash in hand whereas his wife has Rs 1.17 lakh. Again the minister has movable property worth Rs 19 lakh whereas his wife’s total assets are worth Rs 29 Lakh. Further, the minister has jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh whereas his wife has jewellery worth Rs 13 lakh.

Industry minister Shyam Rajak is no exception. Rajak has only Rs 1.10 lakh cash in hand whereas his wife has Rs 1.90 lakh. Similarly, Rajak has gold jewellery worth Rs 15.42 lakh whereas his wife has total jewellery worth Rs 17.85 lakh. Likewise, science and technology minister Jay Kumar Singh has movable property worth Rs 3.21 lakh whereas his wife’s assets total Rs 14.14 lakh.

Similar is the story of Planning and development minister Maheshwar Hazari who has total assets worth Rs 1.1 crore while his wife’s assets exceed Rs 2.45 crore. Another minister, Santosh Kumar Nirala claims to have only Rs 30, 000 cash in hand while his wife has Rs 2.24 lakh cash. Nirala is transport minister in the Nitish government.

Building construction minister Ashok Chaudhary is also poorer than his wife in the matter of bank balance. Chaudhary has total bank deposits of Rs 12.31 lakh while his wife has a bank deposit of Rs 32.87 lakh. However, health minister Mangal Pandey is richer than his wife. He has total assets worth over Rs 1.09 crore against total assets of Rs 67.76 lakh owned by his wife.

On the other hand, chief minister Nitish Kumar has gone poorer than his son. While Nitish has total assets worth Rs 56.28 lakh, his son Nishant Sinha’s total assets are around Rs 1.50 crore.