A sharp verbal exchange broke out between members of the National Conference (NC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday over the issue of the proposed enhancement of salaries and allowances of legislators.
The matter surfaced soon after the House assembled, when NC legislator Altaf Kaloo displayed a set of documents in the Assembly and claimed that they contained signatures of BJP members in support of a salary hike for lawmakers.
The move drew an immediate response from BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma, who objected to the issue being raised in a political manner on the floor of the House.
Sharma urged members to refrain from politicising the matter and argued that the government should give priority to employees and workers who continue to await regularisation and other pending benefits.
He specifically referred to daily wagers, Anganwadi workers and other categories of casual employees, saying their concerns required attention before any enhancement in the remuneration of legislators was considered.
The BJP legislator also questioned the rationale behind pursuing higher salaries and allowances for elected representatives while several sections of the workforce were still awaiting regularisation and related benefits.
During the exchange, Sharma said that legislators should not make salary enhancement the focus of proceedings when the concerns of lower-paid and contractual workers remained unresolved.
The remarks triggered further arguments between members sitting on the treasury and opposition benches, creating a tense atmosphere in the Assembly.
The issue eventually became a point of contention between the two sides, with members trading arguments over the priorities of the government and the demands of legislators.
The proceedings reflected a wider debate inside the House over legislators’ remuneration vis-à-vis the pending demands and service-related issues of various categories of government and contractual workers.