The Congress is very conscious of maintaining its aam aadmi image. This was quite evident at the just-concluded Samvad Baithak where the party insisted that all leaders travel together by a Volvo bus to the venue, Surajkund. In fact, the austerity measures were so strictly enforced that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and scion Rahul Gandhi travelled the 30-km route from Delhi to Surajkund by bus, in the company of Cabinet ministers and party functionaries. It only goes to show that Congressmen like Shashi Tharoor would do well to rethink before complaining about flying “cattle class”.