A day after Delhi Assembly approved a whopping 400 per cent hike in basic salary of MLAs, Congress and BJP lambasted the Arvind Kejriwal government for the move, terming it a shocking turnaround by the Aam Aadmi Party.
Slamming the hike, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the decision was "very difficult to digest" as there was no justification for raising the salary by 400 per cent.
"There should be salary hike. But the hike they have approved is difficult to digest especially when they are flip- flopping on giving salaries to the sanitation workers. It is a shocking turnaround by AAP," Dikshit, a three-time chief minister, said.
The Delhi Assembly yesterday cleared a bill providing for hefty hike in salaries of MLAs and ministers. As per its provision, the basic salary of legislators will rise from current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and their overall monthly package will be around Rs 2.1 lakh as against Rs 88,000 at present.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also attacked the AAP government for the hike, saying the party has forgotten its ideology after coming to power. The hike will come into effect only after the Centre approves the bill.
However, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu reacted cautiously saying the issue needs judicious analysis.
"As Parliamentary Affairs Minister, I feel that there is a reasonable reason to enhance the salary and emoluments of elected representatives across the country, depending on the financial liability of the state and the region, including members of Parliament," he said.
Naidu said it has become a fashion just to focus on salary of elected representatives and ignore what is happening in others sectors. In this regard, he also referred to recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and government's endeavour to hike salary of its employees.
"In the backdrop of that, one has to see how much this (hike) is done in judicious manner without giving scope for criticism. But, some people criticise others forgetting what they are doing," he said without elaborating.
Congress leader P C Chacko said hike should have been reasonable and Chief Minister Kejriwal acted against what he committed to the people.
AAP leader Ashutosh defended the decision to hike the salary of the MLAs saying it was done to encourage honest politics.
"It was done to ensure honest politics. BJP and Congress MLAs came to politics to indulge in corruption. In five years' tenure, they make crores of rupees and don't need salary," he said.
