On Tuesday, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused Congress of incapacitating his campaign by holding up flight clearances for his choppers, derailing his schedule in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
A visibly angry Modi at a rally in Satna much later in the day lashed out, saying, “Congress can stop my flights, but not my ride to Delhi”. BJP has now sought a probe by the Election Commission into the delays.
Besides Bareilly in UP, on Tuesday, Modi was to cover four constituencies in MP.
He started the day by waiting at Delhi airport for almost two hours for permission to take off. The charter companies hired for Modi — an Adani Group plane and a chopper from another organization — reportedly failed to file proper flight plans, giving minutiae such as the route and the alternate airport in case of emergency. As many as four flight plans were submitted to the air traffic control at IGI airport.
Modi was to take off around 9.45am quite the opposite made it out at 11.30am. His 1pm rally at Rewa took place at 4.30pm.
Tuesday’s pandemonium came on the back of checks on the Adani luxury jet that has been his staple on Saturday, moments after he touched down in Delhi from Ahmedabad.