Telugu Desam Member of Parliament JC Diwakar Reddy who has been banned from travel by all the Indian domestic airlines had to face an embarrassing situation in Hyderabad.
Reddy who tried last evening to take a SpiceJet flight last evening to Vijaywada was stopped by the airline staff. Officials informed the MP that he can not fly as he was on the “no flight” list.
A red faced Reddy returned home but made another attempt to fly to Vijaywada and purchased the ticket of TruJet flight. But even before he could reach Shamshabad airport the airline manager contacted him and informed him that as he was on “no flight list”, and hence the airlines cannot fly him.
Reddy, a member of lok Sabha from Anantapur, was barred from flying by all the domestic airlines after he had misbehaved with the IndiGo airlines staff at Vijaywada airport after the staff at the check in counter had refused to issue him boarding pass as he had come late. It is mandatory for the domestic passengers to report 45 minutes before the schedule time of flight.
Angered by the refusal of boarding pass the MP had jostled with the staff members and created a ruckus. However he still managed to fly to Hyderabad as the IndiGo issued him boarding pass following some behind the the scene intervention.
Union Minister for civil aviation Ashok Gajapatiraju who belongs to the same TDP as Diwakar Reddy was also present at the Vijayawada airport at the time of the incident but he denied intervening on behalf of the MP. His ministry had ordered a probe into the incident.
The issue had receded into background as soon after the incident Diwakar Reddy and his family had taken an Emirates flight to Paris for vacation.
Now that he is back in Hyderabad the matter has come to the fore. Reddy has already declared his intention to wage a legal battle against IndiGo alleging that the airline had over booked the flight and was fleecing the passengers by refusing to give them boarding pass even if they come on time and making them more money to buy a new ticket on other flights. He also threatened to resign from Parliament for the sake of his self respect and refused to tender an apology.