Neither a candidate, nor a key position holder, still Yousuf Sharief alias KGF Babu, seated in his palatial house on Bengaluru’s Millers Road, has been busy meeting Congress workers.
Reason? Sharief has released a manifesto declaring himself as an “aspirant” for the Chickpet Assembly seat from the Congress. He plans to spend close to Rs 350 crore from his personal funds to provide Rs 5,000 to each household in the constituency as part of his education and welfare scheme for five years (2022-2027).
Post this announcement, he has been having a lot of meetings at his residence, seeking advice on his ‘cheque distribution’ drive.
“I am not distributing money with elections in mind. I want to help the people of Chickpet, the place where I have grown up. I want to give back to society. I have been doing social service for several years. You are seeing me now, but my work began several years ago,” Sharief told News18.
ASSETS WORTH RS 1,743 CRORE
The Congressman shot to fame when he declared Rs 1,743-crore assets in his MLC election affidavit for the Bengaluru Urban seat in 2021. He became the richest politician in Karnataka and trumped Karnataka’s Minister for Small Scale Industries and Municipal Administration MTB Nagaraj who had declared assets to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore. Nagaraj was among the Congressmen who jumped ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to help B S Yediyurappa come back to power. Sharief lost the MLC election by 397 votes.
While KGF Babu has picked the constituency himself, he has sought permission from the Congress high command to “vide an official party communique to go ahead with this educational/scholarship/societal welfare programme under the Congress banner”.
THE ‘DONATION DRIVE’
When asked whether the high command has approved his move, Sharief believes that he will be granted permission before August 31, the date he has set for his donation drive. As per his manifesto, Sharief will distribute a cheque of Rs 5,000 each to 50,000 families in Chickpet.
“My plan is to provide Rs 5,000 to every home in the area for their child/children’s education. Families whose children are studying in primary or secondary sections will be given this scholarship. So for 50,000 families, the budget will be around Rs 125 crore for five years. Another Rs 5,000 will be given to pre-university students. This will help around 5,000 students. I have allotted Rs 7.5 crore for it,” Sharief said, giving a break-up of his campaign.
He added that he has a plan to build multi-storey flats for slum dwellers in the area at a cost of Rs 180 crore. It will have facilities, including lifts and standard civic amenities.
“I can take this up only if the slum dwellers are ready to provide their land to me. I can assure you each family will be a beneficiary of a flat built a cost of Rs 6 lakh, which I will take up through my charitable foundation,” the leader said.
Sharief claimed that he had carried out a similar exercise in Kolar, his birthplace, where more than 25,000 families benefitted from his donation.
“I had plans to spend around Rs 100 crore on this noble cause. But after meeting my friends and party workers in Chickpet, the amount kept increasing. Now, I will be spending around Rs 350 crore. How much does a man need? When we die, what do we take with us? Nothing. I have secured the future of my children, now it’s time for my people,” he said.
FROM POVERTY TO BUYING AMITABH BACHCHAN’s CAR
Belonging to the area of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Sharief earned the moniker of ‘KGF Babu’. He is also called ‘Scrap Babu’, as he had been a scrap dealer until he forayed into real estate.
The eldest among 14 siblings, Sharief said his family lived in abject poverty. His father took to driving an autorickshaw after their family bakery business ran into losses. He said there were days when their family managed with just one meal.
Soon, he decided to take matters in his hands. Having spent most of his growing years in Kolar Gold Fields, he began working as scrap dealer associate with the Bharat Gold Mines, which was engaged in gold excavation in KGF. His business took off and he soon began dealing in land not just in Kolar, but also in Bengaluru city. In 2021, Sharief declared movable assets worth Rs 100 crore and immovable properties worth Rs 1,643.59 crore.
At his Bengaluru home furnished with white tapestry and furniture, Sharief went on to speak about how the Enforcement Directorate raided him recently for converting “black money into white”.
“I am clean. My money has been earned through hard work. I was summoned by the ED in July. They targeted me only because I was from the Congress and declared my assets during the MLC elections,” he said.
The ED officials conducted search and seizure operations at all properties owned by his family in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka.
“I understand the hardships associated with poverty. Today I earn in crores. It is my hard-earned money. I am not scared if the ED comes knocking at my door again. They claim I am involved in money laundering. What does that even mean? I don’t know,” said Sharief, explaining how he was a school dropout who did not know much about reading and writing.
Sharief had bought a Rolls Royce Phantom car from Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, but it was seized by the transport officials for lack of documentation. He had also declared in an affidavit that he owned a handmade watch worth Rs 1.10 crore and 5 kg gold. The rest of his assets are in the form of real estate, agricultural plots in and around Bengaluru and Kolar. He has two wives — Rukhsana Taj and Shazia Tarannum and five children.
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