Finance minister Ahmed Munavvar has sparked opposition and public outrage over his contentious comments during the parliamentary state budget review committee on Thursday.
The government's second finance minister after his predecessor Abdulla Jihad replaced embattled Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor as the vice president said the government could snub development projects for constituencies whose lawmakers refuse to vote to pass the state budget.
Similar to previous years, opposition lawmakers had boycotted the parliament vote on the state budget for next year which has continuously attracted government criticism.
The minister had hinted that the government would prioritize constituencies for development projects whose lawmakers voted in favour of the state budget.
Kendhoo lawmaker Ali Hussain described the minister's comments as unconstitutional and in clear breach of democratic principles.
"The finance minister has no right to blackmail lawmakers into voting for the state budget. If the government refuses to conduct development projects in certain constituencies then they should be exempt from state taxes as well," the opposition Jumhoory Party (JP) lawmakers exclaimed.
Former Attorney General (AG) Diyana Saeed insisted that discriminating the people based on political views was in clear violation of the constitution. JP deputy leader and Kinbindhoo lawmaker Abdulla Riyaz said the government are obligated to the people and not to individual lawmakers. The former police chief went onto condemn the government's attempt to "threaten" lawmakers into pushing bills through the parliament.
Deposed ruling party leader and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's daughter Yumna Maumoon described the minister's comments as a blatant attempt to influence the parliament.
The minister has also attracted intense criticism from the general public across social networking sites. Most people are calling on the government to stop taking taxes insisting that the state is funded by taxpaying citizens without exception.
The government had proposed a MVR28 billion budget for next year which is expected to be passed by the government controlled parliament despite opposition concerns over mounting debt and questionable revenue measures.
