Sonia owns house in Italy, no car in India

Rae Bareli, April 6 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi owns neither a car nor a house in India but she has an ancestral home in Italy, according to papers she submitted Monday while filing her Lok Sabha nomination here.

She submitted an affidavit to the district magistrate, stating the Italian house was valued at Rs.1.8 million (Rs.18.02 lakh).

Sonia Gandhi's assets, according to the affidavit, totalled Rs.13.8 million (Rs.1.38 crore), nearly Rs.10 million less than what her son Rahul Gandhi reportedly has. He is contesting from nearby Amethi constituency.

Sonia Gandhi's affidavit says that she had Rs.75,000 in cash and Rs.2.86 million (Rs.28.61 lakh) in bank deposits.

In addition she had mutual funds worth about Rs.2 million (Rs.20 lakh) and Rs.1.2 million (Rs.12 lakh) in Reserve Bank of India bonds.

A sum of Rs.199,000 was deposited in post offices and Rs.2.49 million (Rs.24.88 lakh) with the Public Provident Fund.

Sonia Gandhi's jewellery, weighing about 2.5 kg, was valued at Rs.1.1 million (Rs.11 lakh) while 88 kg of silver possessed by her was stated to be worth about Rs.1.8 million (Rs.18 lakh).

She owns two plots of agricultural land totalling up to about 15 bighas and valued at Rs.219,000. Their location is not mentioned in the affidavit.

Sonia Gandhi paid Rs.558,000 in income tax for the assessment year 2008-09 and Rs.32,512 in wealth tax.

In the section related to educational qualification, Sonia Gandhi mentions two courses: a three-year course in foreign languages (English and French) from an institute in Turin (Italy) and a Certificate in English Language from Lennox Cook School, Cambridge.