Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) After asking its ministers to practise thrift by travelling economy class on domestic flights and avoid five-star hotels as meeting venues, the ruling Congress party has instructed its MPs to follow austerity measures in the times of drought and rising prices.
The party has issued a circular to all its MPs and legislators to follow the austerity measures.

According to the circular issued by Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Sep 7, all party MPs and legislators will have to bear a 20 percent salary cut from Sep 1, 2009, for a year.

The communication also asked all party office bearers “to implement this decision in coordination with the state governments”.

Several MPs Friday told IANS they had decided to go along with these measures.

“No circular was issued regarding the austerity measures. But it is a call by the party high command. As an obedient party worker, I preferred to travel economy class from Kerala today,” senior Congress MP P.C. Chacko told IANS earlier.

During a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting last month on drought, party president Sonia Gandhi advised all party ministers, MPs and legislators to donate 20 percent of their salary for drought relief measures to their respective state governments.

She also suggested that party workers adopt “austerity measures” so that their public and private lives “reflect concern for those who are less fortunate”.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor were asked this week to move out of five-star hotels where they had been staying for over three months as their official bungalows were yet to be readied.

N.S.V. Chitthan, an MP from Tamil Nadu, said the party asked the parliamentarians to contribute 20 percent of their salary to the government’s special fund for the drought relief.

“I will reach Delhi tomorrow and contribute the amount,” Chitthan told IANS.

On paper, a Lok Sabha member’s monthly salary is Rs.16,000. But after counting the numerous allowances and perks it adds up to nearly Rs.42,000 a month.

“Sonia Gandhi has suggested that party workers and MPs adopt austerity measures so that their public and private lives reflect the concern for those who are less fortunate,” said another MP from Maharashtra.

“Giving up 20 percent of our salaries should not be a tough task,” he added.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, an MP from West Bengal, described himself as “a lower middle-class MP” who has always led a simple life.

“Unlike the MPs from the north and west, most MPs from West Bengal, cutting across party lines, lead a very simple life,” Chowdhury said.

At a cabinet meeting Thursday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was “upset” as he rejected some of his colleagues’ arguments in favour of travelling business class, saying that these were unusual times and austerity measures were for only for a year.