It has been almost a week since the ruckus created by TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport, after he was denied a boarding pass for an IndiGo flight to Hyderabad, as he turned up late.
However, it is still unclear, as to who allowed the MP to board the flight later.
Despite shouting at IndiGo officials, trying to throw a printer on the floor and pushing a senior airline official, Reddy was still allowed on board, and travel to his destination.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who is also from the TDP and was present at the airport during the incident, denied helping the MP and clarified that he had only asked the airport director to look into the matter by examining CCTV footage.
Speaking to Times of India, Visakhapatnam airport director G Prakash Reddy also denied that he forced IndiGo to issue a boarding pass, saying, “I was with the minister. Neither the minister nor I knew what happened at the IndiGo ticket counter. And later, after we learnt of the incident, Gajapathi Raju never told me to intervene on behalf of Diwakar Reddy."
This came a day after it was reported that IndiGo submitted a report on the incident to the Centre, where it claimed it was 'regrettably' forced to board Reddy, at the behest of government officials present there.
Following the incident, IndiGo barred the 73-year-old businessman-politician from using its flights. Other domestic airlines including Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, GoAir, AirAsia and Vistara also followed suit.
Even as the debate was on over the unruly behaviour of the MP, he left abroad along with his family on a vacation.
His brother J. C. Prabhakar Reddy confirmed that he left, but did not disclose the destination or the international carrier he used for flying.
Prabhakar Reddy, who is a TDP MLA, claimed that the vacation was scheduled in advance and the foreign trip had nothing to do with the incident at Visakhapatnam airport or the ban by some domestic airlines.
Since then, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has also expressed unhappiness over the parliamentarian's behaviour.
Stating that his behaviour brought a bad name to the party, Naidu appealed to public leaders to exercise restraint.
IANS inputs