Swaraj Abhiyan hits out at AAP Government over MLAs' pay hike

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at Delhi Government for its decision to give a 400 per cent pay hike to MLAs, Swaraj Abhiyan today said the same people who claimed that they would live a like an "aam aadmi" and not take a bungalow or a big official car have given themselves the "highest" salary hike in the country.

Swaraj Abhiyan leader Prashant Bhushan also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for issuing a whip on the issue, and said dissident Timarpur legislator Pankaj Pushkar had to vote in favour of the bill despite his opposition to the move.

"They said they will not take a big bungalow or big car, will reduce their salary by half and will stay like a common person, but look at this. They have hiked their salary by 400 per cent, which is the highest in the country," Bhushan said.

The former AAP leader, who was sacked from the party, also attacked the government for political appointments and increasing the budget of advertisements.

"After coming to power, they have appointed their people as assistants with a salary of Rs 70,000-80,000 a month and increased advertising budget by 25 times. These are same people who claimed that they will live like an Aam Aadmi," he said.

The Delhi Assembly yesterday approved a whopping 400 per cent hike in basic salary of MLAs and Ministers, besides hefty increase in perks and allowances.

As per provision of the bill cleared by the Assembly, 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.

The basic salary of Ministers, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Whip and the Leader of Opposition will be around Rs 80,000 per month and their total emoluments nearly Rs 3.67 lakh as against Rs 1.2 lakh now.