Congress slams Tharoor ’s remark on austerity drive

NEW DELHI - The Congress party slammed Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor ’s remarks on the austerity drive on the social networking site Twitter.

“Certainly the Congress doesn’t endorse or approve it and we find it unacceptable. We find this articulation unacceptable and absolutely insensitive,” said Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan.

Media quoted Tharoor as saying on Twitter that he would travel in “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows.”

In a country where the hierarchy of politicians is determined by the size of their bungalows and their convoys, Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi has asked party leaders to give up a fifth of their salaries for drought-relief work, and flew economy on a commercial flight to Mumbai to launch the poll campaign.

Jayanti Natarajan also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for terming the austerity drive as “tokenism.”

“The austerity drive which has been reported widely including the contribution of 20 percent of salaries and an stern way of life which the working committee has resolved upon is a continuation and articulation of that purpose. It was not a question of tokenism. We don’t expect BJP to understand the concept of sacrifice because their party doesn’t believe in ever giving up any chair, which is occupied. This is the particularly the Congress way of life and we are committed to it and continue with it,” Natrajan said. (ANI)