Amid the row over deplaning of Punjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann from a Delhi-bound flight from Germany because he was allegedly “inebriated”, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said he will look into the matter.
The country’s aviation ministry received details about Mann’s last-minute skipping of his Lufthansa Airways flight and on the basis of the details, the Ministry decided to seek a report in detail from Lufthansa, said Scindia.
Scindia went on to point out that, “This was an incident on International soil. We will have to make sure that we verify facts. It is up to Lufthansa to provide data. Based on the request sent to me, I will certainly look into it”.
It was on Monday, when Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal had posted about the incident on his Twitter handle. “Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP’s national convention. These reports have embarrassed and shamed Punjabis all over the globe,” wrote Mann.
“Shockingly, the Pb govt is mum over these reports involving their CM Bhagwant Mann. Arvind Kejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. The Govt of India must step in as this involves Punjabi & national pride. If he was deplaned, GoI must raise the issue with its German counterpart,” Badal had tweeted.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already dismissed opposition’s charges that Mann was deplaned from the flight due to intoxication and said that the Opposition doesn’t have issues to talk about and the Punjab Chief Minister had health problems.
The Punjab Chief Minister was on a visit to Germany from September 11-18 to attract investments and strategic alliances in various sectors. Notably, Mann returned from his eight-day trip from Germany on Monday.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa Airlines issued a clarification on Monday regarding the 4-hour delay of its Delhi-Frankfurt flight.
According to Lufthansa News, the Frankfurt to Delhi flight departed later than its scheduled time due to a delayed inbound flight and an aircraft change. “Our flight from Frankfurt to Delhi departed later than originally planned due to a delayed inbound flight and an aircraft change,” Lufthansa News tweeted replying to a user asking about the delay in the flight.
In another tweet by a user asking whether CM Bhagwant Mann was “drunk”, Lufthansa News tweeted that it can’t provide information regarding individual passengers due to data protection reasons. “For data protection reasons we do not provide any information regarding individual passengers,” Lufthansa News said in another tweet.