BJP boycotts voting on bill for hiking Delhi MLAs' salary

New Delhi: Opposition BJP on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Delhi Assembly during voting on the Bill for hiking salaries, allowances and pensions of MLAs, registering their protest against it.

"We boycotted the voting on the Bill and walked out of the House to register our protest over the lawmakers prioritising their own interests and raising their own salaries by a mammoth 400 per cent," said Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta.

"At a time when sanitation workers of municipal corporations are demanding regular salaries and payment of arrears, the 400 per cent hike in salaries of MLAs is condemnable," he said.

The Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of NCT of Delhi (Salaries, Allowances, Pension) Amendment Bill 2015 providing for hike in basic salaries of legislators from current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and rise in their overall monthly package from existing Rs 88,000 to around Rs 2.1 lakh was passed by the House dominated by AAP MLAs.

Gupta also criticised the government for "imposing" condition for implementing the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission report tabled yesterday.

"The Kejriwal government must immediately implement recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission report without the condition of its implementation by the Centre," he said.

BJP strongly demands the Delhi Government to implement recommendations of the Commission without any condition so that municipal corporations get their financial dues, he said.

Further, the Leader of Opposition termed the fine imposed upon BJP MLA O P Sharma for allegedly breaking a mike in the Assembly as "unjustified" and demanded that it be "annulled".

Delhi Assembly's Ethics Committee has recommended recovery of the cost incurred on replacing the mike allegedly damaged by Sharma during the Budget Session in June this year.