The Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, moved by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, were adopted without raucousness or debate.

The lack of noise is easily fathomed though. These bills have nearly doubled the salaries of MLAs and ministers. While the CM’s basic salary has gone up from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000, ministers will now make Rs 40,000––up from the previous 25,000, according to CNN-IBN.

Allowances for ministers too have doubled, from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.

This massive increase is likely to cost taxpayers about Rs 44 crore a year!

Let’s just hope they earn the raise they have given themselves.