Patna, Jan. 2: Wives of ministers are as wealthy as their spouses in Bihar.

That is the revelation from this year's annual asset declaration - made mandatory by chief minister Nitish Kumar in 2010.

Nutan Sinha, wife of finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, has bank deposits of over Rs 20 lakh, while her husband has Rs 26 lakh. She owns jewellery worth over Rs 20 lakh and a flat in Patna and has an outstanding bank loan of Rs 5.5 lakh. Siddiqui's declaration shows a disputed power bill of Rs 2.77 lakh. The minister owns three vehicles and an equal number of firearms.

Water resource minister Rajiv Ranjan and his wife Renu Devi have bank deposits of over Rs 2 crore. He has a house in his native Nalanda district, one in Patna and one in Delhi. He also has a large chunk of agricultural land in Nalanda. He is the richest minister in the Nitish cabinet, according to the declarations.

Education minister Ashok Choudhary has declared cash of Rs 2 lakh. His bank deposits stand at over Rs 18 lakh. His wife Neeta Choudhary and three children have almost Rs 3 lakh in cash and deposits of over Rs 23 lakh.

The family has jewellery and precious stones worth over Rs 30 lakh with Neeta having 800gm of gold.

In gold and silver, minister of art, culture and youth affairs Shiv Chandra Ram is not far behind. He has declared over 6kg silver and 100gm gold. His wife Anita Adarshhas declared 455gm gold and 2.25kg of silver. The minister also has land and residences in Vaishali and Patna.

The two women ministers, Manju Verma and Anita Devi, lag behind the wives of ministers in possession of jewellery. Social welfare minister Verma has declared 350gm of gold, while Anita has 250gm.

The wife of industry minister Jai Kumar Singh Puja Singh owns jewellery worth Rs 12 lakh, while the minister has jewllery worth Rs 6.7 lakh.

Urban development minister Maheshwar Hazari showed an income of over Rs 10 lakh per year, while his wife Sandhya Hazari has an income of Rs 2.7 lakh per annum. She, however, has 250gm of gold jewellery, compared to the minister's 100gm.

Animal and fish resources minister Awadhesh Kumar Singh's wife Prem Lala Sinhaowns 1kg gold worth Rs 26 lakh. The minister owns just 50gm.

The declarations were uploaded on the government website on Sunday.

They show that Nitish Kumar is poorer than his son Nishant who has assets - gold including jewellery and land at his native village in Kalyan Bigha, Nalanda - worth Rs 1 crore. The CM owns assets worth a little over Rs 16 lakh.

Lalu's sons deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and health minister Tej Pratap Yadav possess land in Patna, Danapur, Phulwarisharif and their home district Gopalganj.

Tejashwi does not own a car according to the declaration, but owns gold jewellery of 100gm worth over Rs 2.6 lakh. Tej Pratap owns a motorcycle worth Rs 15 lakh and an SUV worth Rs 29 lakh. He also owns 100gms gold. Tejashwi has a loan of Rs 28 lakh and Tej has a loan of over Rs 18 lakh.