Responding to Delhi Government’s move to increase the salaries of Delhi MLAs, Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday said it is unacceptable and will bring down the credibility of incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his government, which has a majority in the Delhi Assembly.
“Salary should increase and time to time review should also be made because prices keep increasing. But to increase it by 400 percent is something I don’t understand. It is just not acceptable. This is not a good message for the people. And, on the other hand, the AAP has been saying that they will live in simplicity, and what they are doing now is totally the opposite. This will bring down their credibility,” Dikshit said.
Disgruntled over the approved 400 per cent pay hike for MLAs and ministers in the national capital, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Pankaj Pushkar on Friday rebelled against the decision, saying that ‘inflation’ was for everyone.
“This steep hike in the salary of the legislator sends a wrong signal to the people in the society. If there is inflation, it is for everybody and if at all a higher salary is required then it should be for everybody,” Pushkar said.
“As a responsible legislative assembly we need to understand that we are responsible for people first,” he added.
The Delhi Assembly had yesterday approved a 400 percent pay hike for the MLAs and ministers by passing the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of NCT of Delhi (Salaries, Allowances, Pension) Amendment Bill 2015.
The Delhi government will now send the bill to the Centre and if it is approved, then basic salaries 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 exist Rs 88,000.