Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj for demanding a salary raise for Delhi legislators, the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders said they were even willing to forego their salary “as they have joined politics only for public service”.
While Vishwas Nagar MLA Om Prakash Sharma said he is willing to work on a token pay of Re. 1, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said he is willing to introduce a motion in the House to that effect “if Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assures that it will be adopted in the Assembly”.
“We have joined politics only for public service. I am of the view that the present pay and allowances are sufficient but personally I will work on a pay of rupee 1 only,” Mr. Sharma told reporters.
Rohini and Mustafabad legislators Vijender Gupta and Jagdish Pradhan supported the proposal of Mr. Sharma.
“We shall move a motion in the House during the next session for this purpose. We shall accept only secretarial expenses and not accept pay,” said Mr. Gupta.
Bhardwaj told media on Friday that with a present salary of Rs.54,000, it is difficult to sustain and demanded an increase. Even some other MLAs agreed to his demand as most of them depend on this income. An MLA (wishing anonymity) said that to set up an office in the constituency, it takes up to Rs.30,000 every month. Mr Bhardwaj in an interview to a news channel said that the previous MLAs never raised this issue as they had ‘other means of income’ but most of the AAP MLAs have quit their jobs and are working full-time as an MLA.
