Congress office-bearers have a reason to envy the central government employees on the Sixth Pay Commissions bonanza. Until 2007,AICC General Secretaries and Secretaries were paid a monthly out-of-pocket allowance of Rs 10,000 and Rs 4,500 respectively. While this was revised to Rs 12,000 and Rs 6,000 respectively,it is hardly enough to cover the needs of the office-bearers who are in charge of different states,although their travel and accommodation bills are taken care of. In fact,Secretaries are worse off as they also have to pay for the tea and refreshments that they offer to visitors. However,they are not complaining. Until Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the party in 1998,these office-bearers were not paid even this pittance.
