Rahul on 'track' to austerity

New Delhi, Ludhiana: Following in the footsteps of his mother, Rahul Gandhi has also gone on the austerity track. He took a train, the Shatabdi to Ludhiana, instead of flying like he has done in the past. But is this more than just lip service?

Within days of Sonia Gandhi laying down the law for Congressmen, Rahul took the train rather than a special aircraft to Ludhiana for a party meeting. Perhaps to make a point, Rahul opted out of the more expensive executive class for the regular coach.

"I met him, shook hands with him and asked him," said M S Bhatia, a passenger.

"He was sitting next to me and asked me why Lalu lost to Nitish in Bihar," said former RJD leader Raj Kishore Yadav.

But is this all just a political show? How much will such austerity actually save to help the common man and the economy?

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With mom flying economy class one day, and son chugging it the next, the Opposition and even allies aren't pulling their punches.

"Those who hold Constitutional posts like Sonia, Manmohan should go back to Gandhi's mode of travel. That is general class train travel," said Lalu Prasad Yadav.

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"There is a voluntary austerity drive by the common men because of the high prices of the essential commodities," said BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

But how far can the austerity race go? For one, there's security to consider.

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Security experts say train travel is more problematic than flying because of frequent stops and chance of unscheduled halts, and it's difficult to frisk other passengers. They say what Rahul did cannot and should not be done regularly.

As Rahul got off at Ludhiana for party work, he had perhaps already achieved quite a bit adding another episode to the austerity drama.