Members of the Congress's Youth Wing protest outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence
A large contingent of the Congress' youth wing has gathered outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence to protest against a move for a four-fold hike in the salary of Delhi's lawmakers.
If the recommendation of a committee is accepted, Delhi's MLAs will be the country's highest paid, drawing a salary of Rs 3.2 lakh plus various allowances. Approval needs to come from the capital's legislative assembly, where Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has 67 of 70 seats.
In elections held earlier this year, the Congress had not won a single seat.
The BJP, which has three, has also opposed a hike. "With its unlimited generosity in the matter of pay and allowances for Delhi MLAs, the Aam Aadmi Party Government has become 'Khas' Aadmi Party," said Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, one of the three BJP lawmakers.
A Delhi legislator currently draws Rs 82,000 and a section of AAP lawmakers had a few months ago sought a hike, complaining they did not earn enough to run their homes and offices. The 400 per cent hike has been recommended by a committee appointed by Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel.
The Delhi government is yet to comment on the proposal. AAP's Ashutosh, who is not a lawmaker, tweeted late last night, "For an honest MLA of any party, it's impossible to sustain family/run constituency office in meagre salary. Dishonest don't need salary."
But another section of AAP leaders, including Sanjay Singh, have reportedly objected earlier, saying there should be no salary hike for MLAs when there is rampant poverty in the country and farmers are being driven to suicide.
The last salary revision, a 100 per cent hike, was done in 2011, when the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress was in power.