Shiv Sena calls NDA move to not take salaries 'drama'

Shiv Sena on Thursday called the NDA MPs' decision to not take salaries for the second phase of Parliament's budget session a "drama" and made it clear that its lawmakers would not forgo their honorarium.

Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil said it was the the responsibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party -- which leads the rulign National Democratic Alliance -- to ensure smooth business in the two houses.

"The BJP is responsible for the logjam in Parliament as it has failed in floor management. Now, whatever they are doing is just a drama," Patil told IANS.

"We are going to take our salaries as we participated in daily proceedings, visited various Ministries during the period."

Accusing the Congress of paralysing Parliament, NDA MPs on Wednesday night had announced not to accept salaries and other allowances for 23 days of the resumed Budget session that was completely washed out due to protests by various parties.

Another Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the Shiv Sena had nothing to do with the NDA decision.

"We were not consulted by the BJP before the decision. It is their own decision. It could be their political stand. The Shiv Sena has nothing to do with it," he said.

If the BJP is so concerned about waste of public money, its members should not have taken their salaries when they disrupted the house during the earlier United Progressive Allaince rule, Patil remarked.

--IANS

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