Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday termed as a “joke” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s taunting comments on the auterity drive and sought to defuse the controversy.
At an ‘austere’ Iftar party he hosted, Manmohan Singh was asked his view on Tharoor’s remarks that he would also travel by the “cattle class” given the party and the government’s austerity drive against the backdrop of the price rise and drought.

“It was a joke,” Manmohan Singh told reporters.

The minister ran into trouble for the message he posted on the microblogging site Twitter in which he said sarcastically in response to a query that he would travel “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!”.

The prime minister’s remarks will come as a relief to Tharoor who has been under attack from his own party members, with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking for his resignation.

Tharoor, currently in Liberia on an official visit, tweeted Thursday night that he was “sorry” for the comments and that his words had been misunderstood.

At a press conference Friday, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari reacted to Gehlot’s demand, stating: “Such statements by Tharoor are bound to evoke reactions.”

With the government running a highly-visible austerity drive, the prime minister’s iftar party was a much smaller affair this year.

“It was an austere Iftar affair. We had to prune the list of journalists from 150 to 40,” said the prime minister’s media advisor Harish Khare.

The iftar party was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani and foreign ambassadors.