Earning power

During the debate on the MPs’ salary Bill in the Rajya Sabha, a Congress party member justifying the proposed increase in salaries, pointed to the leader of the Opposition, Arun Jaitley, and said in a high-pitched voice, “For a few members like him, the hike will not matter … as a practising lawyer he was earning Rs 10 lakh a day!” On this, a leader of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Satish Mishra, raised a point of order. “What is the point of order?” the Chair asked. “Sir, the hon’ble member is misleading the House... The leader of the Opposition was not earning Rs 10 lakh, he was earning much more!” The House broke into a collective peal of laughter.