Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took to Instagram and penned an appreciation post for his 76-year-old mother for maintaining her calm during an emergency landing of their aircraft in Bhopal on Tuesday. The Congress leaders’ aircraft made an emergency landing in Bhopal, on its way from Bengaluru to Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi posted a picture of his mother, Sonia, and wrote, “Ma, the epitome of grace under pressure." The picture showed the Congress leader wearing an oxygen mask.
The New Delhi-bound chartered plane carrying the mother-son duo made an emergency landing at the Bhopal airport on Tuesday evening. However, quoting airport director Ramji Awasthi, news agency PTI reported it was a priority landing and not an emergency landing.
A Congress leader later told the agency that a technical glitch led to the unscheduled brief halt.
“The chartered plane carrying Sonia ji and Rahul ji made an emergency landing because of some technical snag," former Madhya Pradesh Women’s Commission chairperson Shoba Oza said.
Following the incident, senior Congress leaders, including Shoba Oza, former Union minister Suresh Pachori, MLAs PC Sharma, Arif Masood and Kunal Choudhary rushed to Bhopal airport and enquired about the Gandhis’ well-being.
“Both of them left for New Delhi by an IndiGo flight at around 9.30 pm," Oza said.
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were on their way back to Delhi after attending an opposition meeting in Bengaluru, earlier in the day, when the incident took place.