Rudy shoved wife’s property under affidavit: Cong

The Congress today questioned Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s affidavit which showed his wife as owning no immovable assets, saying a flat has been registered in her name. Party spokesman Kabil Sibal said: ‘‘In the category where the candidate is supposed to disclose the immovable assets of his wife, Rudy states that there are ‘nil’ assets. We have documents which show there is property in the name of Neelam Pratap in Gurgaon sector 43.’’

Sibal referred to papers of a housing society which showed a contribution from Neelam. ‘‘The papers of the Power Welfare Organisation’s housing complex shows that about Rs 21 lakh have been made as contribution by Neelam Pratap…It is upto the Election Commission to decide what is to be done.’’

Rudy’s chartered accountant, K.K. Singh, denied the allegations. ‘‘The property is not reflected in the immovable column of the affidavit because the property is not registered in the name of the individual (Neelam Pratap),’’ he said. ‘‘The share of the society has been allotted in the name of the individual and therefore, the individual is not the owner of any residential property which belongs to the society.’’

And, because ‘‘the individual cannot dispose of the flat, can only transfer the share’’, Singh said, ‘‘as per accounting norms, this property cannot be reflected as an asset…till it is converted as freehold property.”