Hike in MPs’ salary: TMC, Left stand on same side

The TMC and the Left, who do not see eye to eye on anything, have agreed on one contentious matter - the salary drawn by members of Parliament. After the TMC, the CPI (M), too, feels that the MPs should not decide their own salary. The TMC had also said on Friday that it does not support the move. 

The hike in the salaries on MPs was proposed by finance minister Arun Jaitley during his Budget speech who said salaries will now be indexed to inflation and will automatically increase every five years. “The law will also provide for automatic revision of emoluments every five years indexed to inflation,” the finance minister had said.   

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said he had been opposed to the move for a decade now. “I have always been opposed to the idea the MPs themselves get to decide their own salary, which is politically immoral. The salaries of the MPs should be indexed to the highest-paid bureaucrat, with a rupee added. This is just to distinguish between the two because the MPs are lawmakers and bureaucrats implement it,” said Yechury.   He also added that the automatic upgrade in the salary will ensure no conspiracy takes place when hikes happen.