Like many of his cabinet colleagues, telecom minister A Raja is also quite keen to adhere to the new standards of austerity that have been prescribed by the prime minister, and which are being adhered to by Congress President Sonia Gandhi who flies economy class. So, Raja booked an economy class ticket on an Indian Airlines flight from Chennai. But since business class on the flight had some vacant seats, the airline offered to seat him in business class and he accepted — to be fair to Raja, he never asked to be upgraded. Fellow minister, Dayanidhi Maran, who was on the same flight with his family, however, refused to take up the airline on the offer.
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