Subramanian Swamy won't forgo his salary unlike colleagues
Yesterday, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar announced that NDA MPs would forfeit their salaries for the disrupted period of the Budget session. No work had been done, so MPs won't take salary, he said. However, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy is as usual playing his own tune. He refused to give up his salary, saying that it wasn't his fault that the House didn't run.
What was BJP's diktat?
Kumar said no bills were passed this time, leading to "criminal wastage" of taxpayers' money. "We discussed the issue with PM, BJP president and NDA constituents. The money is given to us to serve the people. Since no public interest issue was discussed, we are returning the money." This will be the first time that MPs will forgo salaries for such a long period.
Now, what is Swamy's argument?
Swamy remarked that, "I'm the President's representative. Until he says so, how can I say I'll not take my salary?" Meanwhile, by foregoing their salaries, the nearly 400 NDA MPs will save the national exchequer Rs. 6cr. This will obviously be a symbolic gesture as the Parliament has already suffered a loss of Rs. 190cr due to inactivity and protests.
