New Delhi: BJP Parliamentary Party head L K
Advani on Tuesday asked his MPs from both Houses not to publicly
air their views on the proposed hike in their salaries as the
practice of legislators themselves taking a call on the issue
was unethical.
In the weekly Parliamentary Party meeting, Advani told
BJP MPs that they should not speak to the media or utter their
opinions in public on the issue of increasing their pay
packets.
"He feels that there should be a body on the lines of the
pay commission to decide from time to time the salaries and
allowances of MPs. Advani is strongly opposed to MPs
themselves deciding how much they should get," a senior BJP
MP, preferring anonymity, said.
Most BJP MPs, including the party top brass, are of the
view that the present salary of legislators is too low and
should be increased but think there should be a mechanism for
dealing with the issue.
"The government itself started this exercise when the JPC
was formed and the proposal of increasing the salary to Rs
80,000 was taken up. Now, some of their own ministers are
opposing it," a senior BJP MP said.
Meanwhile, BJP MP in Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu batted
for establishing a "scientific method" for increasing the
salaries of legislators.
"MPs increasing their own salary is not a good
convention. MPs are also public servants like bureaucrats and
officials. So their salaries and allowances should be decided
by a permanent body through a scientific method," Naidu said.
He maintained that a "structure" should be put in place
for dealing with the issue of pay and emoluments of MPs from
time to time and keeping in view factors like price rise.
PTI
