New Delhi, Sep 23 - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday lambasted the Congress for pardoning Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his 'cattle class' travel remark instead of sacking him.

'His political probation has been a complete fiasco,' BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters here.

Rudy added: 'He has been let off and pardoned. Had it been any other field, a person holding such an important job and with such demeanour would have been sacked. But it seems that the Congress does not care about common man's feelings.'

Tharoor invited controversy when he posted a message on social networking site Twitter, saying he would travel 'cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows'. The remark did not go down well with the ruling party that had just launched an austerity drive.

He later apologised for his remark but the Congress indicated that it was displeased and would decide on what action to take against him. On Tuesday, he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and was told to be careful with his words.