Sonia toes Pranab line on austerity for colleagues

For the past two months, at almost every pre-Budget meeting with ministerial colleagues, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s mantra is: “Don’t ask for more money”.

In tandem, Mukherjee’s political boss — Congress President Sonia Gandhi — too has sent a new missive to her party colleagues: Spend less party funds.

After drawing up the austerity measures for the party leaders in August, Gandhi’s latest direction to party MPs and MLAs, who enjoy free air travel as legislators, was refrain from asking the party to pay for air tickets before exhausting the legislative quota they are entitled to.

B K Hariprasad, Congress general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat, told Business Standard: “As a Member of Parliament, I am entitled for 34 free flight tickets a year from Parliament. We have been asked to exhaust this quota first before asking for tickets from the party fund.”

Another general secretary told this newspaper that Gandhi had also asked her leaders to avoid unnecessary travels.