Who is the most austere of them all? In the Congress and the government, the competition may have just begun.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the first one to publicly upbraid colleagues S M Krishna and Shashi Tharoor — after The Indian Express report that both were living in five-star hotels — will fly to Kolkata tomorrow in Economy Class on SpiceJet, a budget airline.

His colleague Power Minister Sushil Shinde said he was flying Economy to Delhi from Mumbai.

Party spokesman Manish Tiwari outdid both of them at least in word, if not in deed. He said that he — and all partymen — were ready to travel even in a “plane’s cargo hold.” For, what mattered was reaching the destination, not how.

And yet Mukherjee tried to downplay his Cabinet colleagues’ reservations over the austerity drive.

Speaking at the Indian Women’s Press Corps, Mukherjee said he had only “requested” Ministers and officials, entitled to Executive Class, to travel by Economy Class on domestic flights. And Executive rather than First Class on international flights.

As for MPs, he said he had no jurisdiction over them and had requested the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairperson to take appropriate decisions.

On events, Mukherjee said that official conferences in five-star hotels should be avoided.

“All ministries, External Affairs and my Ministry have their own conference halls apart from Vigyan Bhawan and Hyderabad House... That does not mean lunch or dinners should not be held in hotels for visiting dignitaries,” he said.

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