Coming to the defence of BJP's Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, who reportedly opened the emergency exit of the IndiGo plane after boarding at Chennai airport last month, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, on Wednesday, said Surya did it by mistake.
The minister pointed out that the Surya apologised for the incident.
The opposition had targetted the BJP MP over the incident with Karnataka Congress saying "Tejasvi Surya is an example of what will happen if children playing games are given the proprietorship. An act of children's mischief by trying to open the emergency exit door of the plane has come to light. Why prank with the lives of passengers?"
Congress MLA and KPCC's communications in-charge Priyank Kharge sought to know if the MP used his office to suppress the news. "Why is Indigo so hesitant to name the passenger? Why didn't they report to DGCA? Why is No Comments from the MP? BJP's Tejasvi Surya allegedly opened emergency exit of IndiGo flight, flight delayed by 2 hours," he had said in a tweet.
Scindia said he does not want to respond to the claims of the opposition and added that it is important to look at facts. "The door was opened by him by mistake when the flight was on the ground and after all checks, the flight was allowed to take off,” the minister was quoted as saying.
In a statement on Tuesday without naming the BJP MP, IndiGo said a passenger travelling on flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on December 10, 2022, accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. The statement came after a media report said the MP had opened the emergency exit, leading to a delay in the flight.