IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8: Stung by a media report that sought to debunk its claims of austerity, the government Tuesday asked External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his junior Shashi Tharoor to move out of luxury hotels where they have been staying for over three months.

"I have requested both the ministers to vacate hotel rooms," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Tuesday.

He was reacting to a front-page report in The Indian Express that disclosed that the two ministers were staying in two five-star hotels in the capital, although they were paying the bills themselves.

Krishna, who was staying at Hotel Maurya Sheraton at Sardar Patel Marg, has now moved to Foreign Services Institute (FSI) guesthouse, official sources said.

Tharoor, who was staying at Hotel Taj Mahal on Man Singh Road, is now staying at an Indian Navy guesthouse.

When his office was contacted, an aide told IANS that Tharoor checked out of the hotel Sep 1.

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. They were spending their own money, he said.

The two ministers were staying in hotels as official accomodation allotted to them were undergoing renovation.