Telugu Desam MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy created a ruckus after he was denied a boarding pass at the Visakhapatnam airport on Thursday morning. He reportedly arrived late for his flight.
The MP was scheduled to catch the IndiGo flight (6E-608) from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad. The airline staff refused to give him the boarding pass, and reportedly offered to accommodate him on another flight.
Mr. Reddy flew into a rage and reportedly abused the airline staff, trying to push one of them and pull out a printer. Later, he boarded the same flight to Hyderabad. IndiGo Airlines has barred the MP from its flights. Earlier, the airlines confirmed the “unruly behaviour” by Mr. Reddy. In an official statement to the media, the airlines said the MP had reported 28 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight.
The staff politely informed him that boarding for flight 6E-608 was closed and offered to accommodate him on the subsequent flight. “He expressed his annoyance and [showed] abusive behaviour [towards] the staff”.
“As an airline, we will take all necessary action to address this violation,” said the statement issued by the airline on Thursday evening.
The country's public carrier Air India has also barred the parliamentarian. "The incident happened in Visakhapatnam is matter of concern. As Indigo has banned the MP to travel so Air India has also barred," said Dhananjay Kumar, Spokesperson, Air India. Jet Airways and Spicejet too followed suit.
Reddy denies charge
The MP, representing Anantapur in the Lok Sabha, however, defended his conduct. He denied that he had assaulted the airline staff. “I reached the airport 30 minutes before the departure of the flight. I only asked the staff why they were not issuing a boarding pass and put my hand around the shoulder of the airline staff,” he said.