Vijay Mallya, the businessman-politician with interests in beverage alcohol, aviation and fertiliser, made sure he didn't miss a single perk nor the monthly salary of his political office, according to a right to information (RTI) query by a Bareilly-based activist Mohammad Khalid Jeelani.
Mallya is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha secretariat, which maintains account of all members of the upper house of Parliament, revealed that the MP religiously collected Rs. 50,000 per month as salary and other perks like constituency allowance and telephone reimbursements, reported IANS.
Mallya, whose debt-fraught Kingfisher Airlines is turning to be his nemesis, claimed all other perks and emoluments, except for the reimbursement of airfare.
The news agency reported that between July 2010 and September 2010, Mallya claimed Rs. 20,000 per month as constituency allowance apart from his monthly salary of Rs. 50,000. Under enhanced allowances, since then, Mallya accrued Rs. 45000 under constituency allowance and another Rs. 15,000 as offices expense each month (it was Rs. 6000 till September 2010).
Over and top of 50,000 local calls being free for a Rajya Sabha MP, Mallya also raised a bill of Rs. 1.73 lakh on calls from his official phone number, according to the RTI.
Mallya, who first made his foray into politics in early 2000s, was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2002 as an independent member from his home state of Karnataka with the support of the Congress party and Janata Dal (Secular). In 2010, he was re-elected for a second term, this time with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the JD(S). His term comes to an end in July 2016.
