A section of party leaders had called for a pay hike in July saying their salaries, last revised in 2011, are not enough to run their homes and offices.
Facing a backlash over the salary hike for Delhi lawmakers and ministers approved by the Assembly on Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should get a pay hike too if he earned less.
With 67 of 70 lawmakers from the Aam Aadmi Party, the Delhi Assembly on Thursday approved the Bill which when cleared by the Union Home Ministry and the President, will raise salaries of lawmakers and ministers by as much as four times.
"They are saying that after this Bill, my salary will be more than that of the Prime Minister. If this is true, it's very unfair. He should get a pay hike too," Mr Kejriwal said. "The question is how he is managing in such less money," he said.
Unlike other parties, AAP lawmakers do not make money through corruption so they need substantial salaries, Mr Kejriwal said.
The 47-year-old leader also took shots at journalists and television anchors who criticised the hike. "Their salaries, even their clothes are worth more than what we will make in a month even after the hike," Mr Kejriwal said.
"A lawmaker used to get Rs 12,000 as his salary. That's even less than the minimum wage of a skilled labourer. How can you get anything done in Rs 12,000?" he said.
"We have increased it to Rs 50,000 and another Rs 50,000 in constituency allowance. So that's Rs 1 lakh a month. Is it too much? The rest of the allowances are actually expenses like staff salaries and fuel allowances - don't lawmakers need this money to work?" Mr Kejriwal asked.
A section of party leaders had called for a pay hike in July saying their salaries, last revised in 2011, are not enough to run their homes and offices.