Old Tweet Haunts Arvind Kejriwal as His Lawmakers Look Forward to Big Pay Hike

New Delhi: As a salary hike is proposed for Delhi lawmakers that will benefit members of his Aam Aadmi Party most, Arvind Kejriwal is being reminded of a tweet three years ago when he had taunted politicians.

"No consensus amongst political parties on Lokpal in 44 years. If they have to increase their salaries, there is consensus in 5 min," Mr Kejriwal had tweeted in March 2012. He was then an activist fighting for a national anti-graft ombudsman called the Lokpal to be set up.

It was at the end of 2012 that Mr Kejriwal had launched his political party AAP - to change the face of politics its raison d'etre, he said.

AAP swept the Delhi elections in February this year, winning 67 of 70 seats. Now, his party's legislators want a pay hike and a committee set up by the Delhi Assembly Speaker has recommended a 400 per cent raise.

If accepted, Delhi's legislators will be the country's highest paid, drawing a salary of Rs 3.2 lakh plus various allowances. Approval needs to come from the very lawmakers who want the hike; they say they don't earn enough to run their homes and offices.

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Mr Kejriwal, who is very active on Twitter and tweets many times in a day, is yet to comment on this development. But a senior member of his party, Ashutosh, 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."

Outside Mr Kejriwal's residence today, a large contingent of the Congress' youth wing protested against the proposed salary hike. In this year's Delhi election, the Congress had won not a single seat.

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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 Vijender Gupta, one of the three BJP lawmakers.  

On Twitter, several people dug up Mr Kejriwal's old tweet.