TMC to oppose MPs’ salary hike: ‘They are paid enough’

Trinamool’s opposition is unlikely to make any difference to the outcome of the Salary Bill, which has been a long-pending demand of MPs and was also recommended by a committee headed by UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

The decision to oppose the proposal, he said, was taken after a conference call on Friday morning with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. (File/Express photo by Subham Dutta)

The Trinamool Congress will oppose the proposal to double the salaries of MPs. The party’s national spokesperson Derek O’Brien on Friday said the party’s position is that MPs currently get paid enough and there is no need to double their salaries as proposed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech on Thursday.

“Trinamool Congress opposes the proposed salary hike of MPs. We feel that MPs are paid enough,” O’Brien said. The decision to oppose the proposal, he said, was taken after a conference call on Friday morning with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee in which the party’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay also participated.

Trinamool’s opposition is unlikely to make any difference to the outcome of the Salary Bill, which has been a long-pending demand of MPs and was also recommended by a committee headed by UP CM Yogi Adityanath when he was Gorakhpur MP.

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In his Budget speech, Jaitley said, “There has been a public debate with regard to the emoluments paid to the Members of Parliament. Present practice allows the recipients to fix their own emoluments, which invites criticism. I am, therefore, proposing necessary changes to refix the salary, constituency allowance, office expenses and meeting allowance payable to Members of Parliament with effect from April 1, 2018. The law will also provide for automatic revision of emoluments every five years indexed to inflation. I am sure Hon’ble Members will welcome this initiative and will not suffer such criticism in future.”

The proposed changes in MPs’ salaries are doubling of monthly salary from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and increase of pension from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month. The daily allowance of Rs 2,000 and the constituency allowance of Rs 45,000 remain unchanged.

The proposal also is to do away with the 25 per cent travel allowance for MPs and pay them on actuals. Presently, every MP gets 25 per cent of the price of ticket of any journey as travel allowance.

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