Row over Rahul copter landing
Congress leader allegedly forced pilot to land
New Delhi: Controversy surrounds the landing of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's helicopter near the Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on Monday evening.
Rahul is alleged to have forced the pilot to land his helicopter in poor visibility at Sitapur, about 85 kilometres from the state capital. While both Rahul and his Congress party have denied the allegation, the Sitapur district authorities in their report have said the helicopter landed 17 minutes after sunset in poor visibility, proof of which is that instead of landing at the prescribed H of the helipad, it landed near it.
Serious breach
Landing in near zero visibility and travelling in an SUV instead of the government-provided bulletproof car is being seen as a serious breach of security which could have endangered the life of youth icon of India's ruling party.
The controversy began when the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Rita Bahuguna Joshi inadvertently said that Rahul's chopper had landed at Sitapur in the dark in order to drive home the point that Rahul took a risk to his life to keep his commitment of meeting party workers, although both Rahul and the Congress party later denied her statement asserting that she is no expert on aviation.
"Our state president [Bahuguna Joshi] is not a pilot… I understand very well the dangers of flying in bad weather. I am the absolute last person who will do that. The pilot has not broken any rule. The pilot was aware of what he was doing; we did not put any pressure on the pilot and he did not land in zero visibility. There was plenty of visibility," Rahul said in Lucknow yesterday in a bid to nip the controversy in the bud and save a possible termination of the pilot's licence.
Rahul insisted that there was enough visibility when his chopper landed.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Congress parliamentarian Jagdambika Pal also denied any breach of rules or forced landing of the chopper saying as far as he knows the decision was taken by the pilot of helicopter in consultation with civil aviation authorities and Rahul can't press pilots to take any decision.
