Austerity-the new buzzword!

This austerity thing is dominating the headlines be it thanks to politicians living in 5 star hotels or Rahul Gandhi travelling by train and inviting stones at himself or maybe Shashi T tweeting around! Whatever be the reason with congress high command sticking to this new keyword its bound to remain that way.
Firstly I have usually been against this austerity stuff (not that i have much to spend around) but have been against the hue and cry that was raised when Mallya gifted a jet to his son (did he?) or Mittal married off his daughter in some style. I believe they have right to spend as much as they want considering the fact that they have worked hard for it. Of course while not hurting anyone (sentiments dont count please). But in case of politicians there is a whole new aspect involved. Can a person who is living his life comfortably really understand the problems of the poor? I know i can give a hundred arguments against that statement but still its a much better argument than of some private people spending money.
What I want to talk about though is that is the government sure that this austerity drive is saving money instead of incurring more expenditures? Lets take the case of Rahul Gandhi going by train instead of a chopper or plane. Savings because of tickets would be minimal compared to the cost of security involved. Read somewhere that police was involved to provide security along the entire route? (dont ask why still stones were pelted at him if you know how Indian police works) Now compare that to him going in a chopper in which case the security agencies are clueless about his whereabouts till he lands (YSR death informed us about this security system).
Leave the whole security thing lets talk about productivity now. I atleast believe that even the most incompetent minister would have work to do most of the day. Just going through all the papers without doing anything new would keep him busy. Now how can you expect person travelling in sleeper class to go through all the files. Is the savings in ticket worth that much amount of time?
Congress party instead of showing solidarity with all the drought affected people and get down to their level try working harder and get them to your level. Or is it that all hope is lost for the latter condition?
And Shashi T: think before you tweet :P