Sonia Gandhi flies economy to set example

Agencies
Mumbai, Sept 14:
The Congress' austerity drive received a giant push on Monday. Sonia Gandhi flew on an economy-class ticket from Delhi to Mumbai. Gandhi was assigned seat F-3. A K Antony was seated next to her. Over the weekend, ministers like Pranab Mukherjee and Sharad Pawar flew economy class in keeping with the government's request for an austerity drive.  The campaign began among the Congress, reportedly at Sonia Gandhi's behest, after media reports that 2 union ministers were staying, at their own  expense, in 5-star hotels.  The ministers, SM Krishna and Shashi Tharoor, pointed out that their government  houses were not ready, but  have moved out of their hotels. 
The Congress wants its ministers to cut back on expenses as a sign of solidarity with a country whose farmers have been hit hard by the drought. After objections from some of its allies in the UPA government, the Congress has asked its own ministers to give up first-class travel.

Gujarat bypolls: It's advantage Modi
After a brief political downturn, it was a showcase of the Modi magic in Gujarat. BJP won five of the seven seats in the Assembly bypolls in Saurshtra and north Gujarat. It is a significant win as all five seats were held by the Congress earlier. Congress has managed to retain Dhoraji and has managed to snatch only Kodinar from the BJP. "The BJP has performed really well. The Congress is weakened not just in Gujarat, but also in MP and Uttarakhand," said BJP president Rajnath Singh. These bypolls saw a new Modi - no longer the sole star campaigner of Gujarat BJP at his charismatic best, instead he put in all his energies mobilising grassroots workers, supervising the cadre, and selecting candidates with care.
In comparison, the Congress, buoyed by recent successes, was perhaps a bit complacent. Its decision to field relatives of sitting MPs in strongholds backfired. "The results do not meet our expectations. We will closely analyse what went wrong and where we lacked," said Siddarth Patel, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Chief. He was under pressure, following a string of poor performances in the past, the unimpressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls, and the Jungadh municipal poll debacle. But by registering a thumping victory in the bypolls, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has sent across a message that you cannot write him off just as yet.