By IANS,
New Delhi : Stung by criticism for staying in luxury hotels amid an austerity drive by the government, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor have moved to modest homes, albeit temporary ones, till their respective official residences are ready.
The two ministers, however, rejected charges of wasting public money and clarified that they paid for their hotel stay from their own pocket.
The two shifted after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has initiated an austerity drive by the ministers and bureaucrats, “requested” them to vacate the hotel rooms and go to their respective “(state) Bhavans”.
Krishna, who was staying at Hotel ITC Maurya at Sardar Patel Marg, said he will continue to make “private arrangements” for his stay in Delhi till his allotted residence was ready for moving in.
Krishna has now moved to the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) guest house, reliable sources said.
The two ministers were staying in five-star hotels for over three months since they became ministers in the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The controversy started from a front-page report in The Indian Express Tuesday saying that the two ministers were staying in two five star hotels in the capital, although they were paying the bills themselves.
The disclosure has embarrassed the government at a time when it has embarked on an austerity drive asking ministers and bureaucrats to cut down on needless expenses in time of recession and deepening drought.
However, an aide to Krishna said the minister was extremely upset as he was paying for the hotel stay from his pocket. “Not a penny has been spent by the government. The media is just indulging in sensationalism,” the aide said.
Tharoor, who was staying at Hotel Taj Mahal on Man Singh Road, moved to an Indian Navy guest house Sep 1, the minister’s aide said.
Tharoor was quick to react on his favourite social networking tool Twitter. “I would be ashamed if I was spending the people’s money. But I’m not – I’m spending my own savings,” Tharoor tweeted Tuesday afternoon, in reply to a question.
On a suggestion that Kerala House could be a temporary place for stay, Tharoor said: “I need 2 things daily that Kerala House doesn’t offer – a gym and some privacy. But I visit pretty often and meet people there.”
Incidentally, Tharoor often gets questions on Twitter on whether the government pays for his trips to his constituency, Thiruvananthapuram.
“It is a non-story. I wasn’t spending taxpayer’s money or using any government privilege.”
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari justified Mukherjee’s intervention in the matter, saying the ministers staying at luxury hotels when the government has announced austerity measures does not send the right signal.
Tewari, however, clarified that the government was not paying for the hotel stay of the two ministers. “There was no question of burdening the public exchequer. They have already clarified it,” he said.
Krishna, a Rajya Sabha member, was earlier allotted the residence of former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh at 19, Teen Murti Lane. However, he found the house in a poor state and ordered it to be renovated.
Tharoor, an MP from Thiruvananthapuram, was initially offered accommodation in Kerala House after the polls, but is said to have refused. He has since been allotted a house in Lodhi Estate, which is undergoing renovation.