Stop pension of ex-MPs who are financially well off: Cong LS member in letter to Sitharaman

Congress Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra's Chandrapur Suresh alias Balu Dhanorkar on Thursday requested Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to stop the pension of former Members of Parliament who are financially well off.

Dhanorkar, in a letter to Sitharaman, said there are a total of 4,796 former members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha who are receiving pension for which an amount of Rs 70 crore is spent per year.

Dependent families of nearly 300 former MPs also get this financial benefit, he said.

Those receiving the centrally-funded pension include businessmen Rahul Bajaj (who died in 2022), Sanjay Dalmiya, prominent politicians like Mayawati, Sitaram Yechury, Mani Shankar Iyer and actors Rekha and Chiranjeev, the Congress lawmaker said in the letter.

Many well-known and financially wealthy former MPs also avail this benefit, said the sole Congress Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra.

Dhanorkar requested the finance minister to discontinue the pension of former MPs who are wealthy.

Former Members of Parliament who fall in above 30 per cent income tax slab should not get this financial benefit, he said in the letter.

''I am very much confident that no patriotic former MP will object to this request,'' Dhanorkar said.