In a surprise move, the Bharatiya Janata Party named former Union minister and technocrat-turned-politician Rajeev Chandrasekhar as the party’s new president in Kerala.
Chandrasekhar, who had posed a challenging fight to Congress’s Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram in the last year’s Lok Sabha elections, assumed office on Monday, saying his mission was to transform the state.
Who’s Chandrasekhar?
Chandrasekhar was born to Keralite parents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and has family roots in Thrissur.
In 1991, he joined the BPL Group, a company owned by his father-in-law T.P.G. Nambiar. Later he founded BPL Mobile which brought in a major telecom revolution in the country. In 2015, Chandrasekhar founded Jupiter Capital Private Limited and also entered into the media foray.
READ - Explained: BJP’s strategy behind naming Rajeev Chandrasekhar its Kerala president
#WATCH | On the priorities of his party, Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar says, "There is only one priority today, which is to bring change to the lives of people in Kerala as PM has done in the country. We want to create more jobs and opportunities. Our aim is to get… pic.twitter.com/0nrCRrawdK
— ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2025
In his two-decades long political career, Chandrasekhar had been a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka for three terms and served as the BJP's national spokesperson.
He is a former Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Jal Shakti.
What’s Chandrasekhar’s total assets?
As per the election affidavit filed in April 2024, the total value of his movable assets stands at Rs 9,25,55,404, while that of his immovable assets at Rs 14,40,00,000. Between 2018 and 2024, the value of his movable assets dropped by 66 per cent; dipping from Rs 27.98 crore to Rs 9.25 crore.
The movable assets include cash in hand, details of deposits in banks, non-banking financial companies, and cooperative societies, as well as investments in bonds, debentures, shares, units in companies/mutual funds, and other financial instruments.
As per the income tax returns details, his income dipped from Rs 28 crore to Rs 5.5 lakh in seven years. However, his spouse’s income increased from Rs 21.44 lakh to Rs 1.32 crore.
