On Thursday, the TDP minister had allegedly misbehaved with IndiGo staff at the Vishakhapatnam airport The minister also refused to tender an apology despite the fact that he had reached late However, now the question is how the minister was allowed to fly with IndiGo in first place
Andhra Pradesh minister MP JC Diwakar Reddy is doing a Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad by refusing to apologise and now has left the country amid an investigation into the alleged misconduct on his part.
The TDP minister has been banned by all domestic airlines from flying over his alleged unruly behaviour at the Visakhapatnam airport, flew to Europe on Friday night as part of his annual family vacation. Along with that, there is a report being sought on as to how Diwakar Reddy was allowed to fly IndiGo despite being denied permission to board the aircraft.
This report, mentioned in the Times of India, talks of the Civil Aviation ministry inquiring into the incident. Initially there were reports of the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju having intervened, but he denied all the allegations. Even IndiGo is not revealing who forced them to fly the minister.
According to J C Prabhakar Reddy, brother of the Anantapur MP, the tour was planned well in advance. It is something the family does every year, he said. "He and his family left for vacation last night. I was also supposed to go along with them. But I could not go due to personal work. What is wrong in his foreign tour? He got his visa long ago. It was not planned yesterday," Prabhakar, a TDP MLA from Anantapur told PTI.
He, however, did not disclose the holiday destination as well as the airline his brother took for the overseas trip. Though the exact duration of the vacation is not exactly known, a TDP leader said it may last seven to 10 days.
Following the June 15 episode, in a show of unity, all major domestic airlines have barred the MP from taking their flights - similar to action taken by the carriers after the incident involving Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad earlier this year.
On Thursday, Reddy was scheduled to fly IndiGo's flight 6E-608, which departs from Visakhapatnam at 8.10 am, to Hyderabad. But he reached just 28 minutes before the scheduled departure, according to the airline. As per the initial investigation conducted, the minister had reached late and so ‘law must take its course’ commented the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on the member of his own party. However, he clarified there would be no probe as the CCTV cameras at the airport had captured the minister misdemeanour.
As per norms laid out by the aviation regulator, airlines close check-in counters for all domestic fights 45 minutes prior to departure. Enraged, Reddy got into a verbal spat with the ground staff and threw a printer kept at the airline's counter after he was informed that boarding for his flight had closed.
This incident, it seems is not Reddy’s first brush with airline officials. Prior to this incident, Reddy had allegedly vandalised the Air India office at Gannavaram airport in Vijaywada last year after he missed his flight.
