Manish Sisodia targets BJP over Delhi MLAs' salary Bill

New Delhi: After the Centre returned a Bill seeking 400 per cent salary hike for Delhi MLAs, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today wondered how could legislators of BJP procure "expensive" cars and houses despite low pay.

The Deputy Chief Minister asked the BJP-led central government to either reveal this "formula" of getting rich despite low pay or clear the Bill for raising the MLAs' salary.

The Home Ministry has returned the Bill, seeking more clarifications.

"The Delhi government proposed to increase MLAs' salaries so that they could get respected amount. They (the Centre) have problem in giving its nod to the Bill also.

"Our MLAs do not indulge in corruption...While their (BJP) MLAs and MPs come on scooter initially (just after elections) and they have expensive houses, cars, five-star hotels and farm houses after five years," Sisodia told reporters here.

He said that there are two models of politics in the country -- "honest" politics and that of "corruption".

"In politics, there are several ministers, MLAs, MPs whose income get increased by up to five times in just one year despite their low salaries," he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that in Delhi too, there are many councillors who had roamed on scooters just after municipal polls, but they have expensive cars, farmhouses after their five-year term.

"The second formula is that a person enters into politics and serve the people with honesty. In Delhi, an MLA gets just Rs 12,000 as salary.

"We just want to increase the MLAs' salaries which is being ridiculed, but the really joke is of the democracy that when an MP and MLA's incomes get increased by two times despite the fact that they get low salaries," he said.

As per the Bill, the basic salary of MLAs is proposed to be increased from current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and their overall monthly package to Rs 2.1 lakh as against existing Rs 88,000, which will make Delhi legislators the highest paid lawmakers in the country.

This was for the second time the Home Ministry has returned the Bill to the Delhi government.

Last year, it had asked the Arvind Kejriwal government regarding the calculation which was performed to arrive at the figures mentioned in the Bill.

It was not clear what method has been used to calculate the salaries for MLA and the Speaker, official sources said.

However, the Bill was re-sent by the Delhi government to the Home Ministry for consideration and approval.