271 crorepatis, UP MLAs still want salary hike ‘to deal with inflation’

Legislators, cutting across party lines during the ongoing budget session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, are worried, among other things, about their perks and salaries — now at Rs 50,000 a month. 

Citing the price rise and inflation, these otherwise feuding politicians have struck a rare unanimity on their pay hike — if not for combating the spiraling crimes against women or resurrecting the power sector. 

And so, amid the bedlam the house is now becoming so used to, senior leaders have openly aired the ‘urgent need’ of revising their salaries and perks to at least enable them ‘offer tea and snacks to visitors’. This in a house that boasts of 271 crorepatis (multi-millionaires) among its 403 members. A report of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) compiled on the basis of affidavits submitted ahead of the 2012 assembly polls, puts the figure of multi-millionaires at 67 per cent of the house strength. 

Of them, the maximum crorepatis belong to the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) which has 140, followed by the BSP (63), the BJP (32), the Congress (18) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (7).