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With Congress chief Sonia Gandhi taking serious note of The Indian Express report that External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor had made five-star hotels in New Delhi their temporary homes for over three months, the UPA government today asked them to vacate the hotel suites.

“I have requested both ministers to vacate the hotel rooms,” said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. His “request” came at the behest of Gandhi who, Congress sources said, was “extremely upset” with the “extravagant lifestyle” of the ministers. This flew in the face of the party’s emphasis on austerity in public life, sources said.

Krishna, staying in the Presidential suite at ITC Maurya for the last three months, was said to be moving to the Foreign Services Institute guest house while Tharoor was learnt to be checking out of the Taj Mahal Hotel for the Indian Navy guest house in Kota House.

Though Mukherjee asked the ministers to shift to the state Bhavans, Krishna maintained “I have made some private arrangements for my stay in Delhi. I will continue to make the same kind of private arrangements till I get my house that is fit enough to be occupied.”

Tharoor, writing on social networking tool Twitter, said he was spending his “own savings”. “I would be ashamed if I was spending the people’s money. But I’m not — I’m spending my own savings.”

Tharoor said he would much rather be in his “official house”. On the suggestion that he could move to Kerala House for the time being, Tharoor said: “I need 2 things daily that Kerala House doesn’t offer — a gym and some privacy. But I visit pretty often and meet people there.”

Congress spokesman Manish Tewari tried to downplay the issue but added that the ministers, in their own wisdom, “should have taken an appropriate decision”.