The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is the fourth largest political party in India in terms of its strength in Parliament. On Friday, Parliament passed a Bill to reduce one year’s salaries of MPs by 30 percent to meet the exigencies arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with voice vote. The YSRCP fully supported the Bill but demanded the restoration of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund since it was used for the development and for the betterment of the people.
The YSRCP MPs said charity must begin at home and they wanted to set an example by sacrificing their salaries. They also said if the MPLADS fund is restored, it can be used for fighting Covid-19 in the constituencies.
Leading the party in Delhi, party’s general secretary and MP Vijay Sai Reddy said, “I support this Bill of cutting salaries but I request to restore the MPLADS fund. That is very important for the development of the constituency. Cutting across the parties, all MPs want the MPLADS to be restored. For the members who disrupt the house proceedings, their salaries should be cut in proportion, irrespective of their party. There should not be any distinction between treasury benches or opposition. Even the imposition of penalty can be considered on such members. The MPs are also with the people of India in the fight against the pandemic.”
Asking the public representatives to set an example during a pandemic, Reddy further said, “The political leaders also send a message to people with their salary cut. There is a salary cut of 20 percent. The public representatives in Singapore sacrifice one-month salary and I appreciate the private companies for higher-level salary cuts so that the junior employees get their salaries without any cut. The public representatives lead the example by their own salary cut.”
However, this didn’t stop the political turmoil as for the second consecutive day, YSRCP MPs staged protests at Gandhi statue and Vijay Chowk and demanded a CBI probe into the Amaravati land scam and the AP FibreNet scam. They raised slogans to highlight the issues.