Fact Check: What happened to the emergency door of the aircraft Tejasvi Surya was travelling in

Tejasvi Surya who is an MP from Bengaluru south is also the president of the BJP's Yuva Morcha. On December 10, he had addressed a rally of the morcha in Tamil Nadu

New Delhi, Jan 18: The IndiGo aircraft 7339 (ATR) which was about to take off from Chennai to Tiruchanapali was briefly interrupted when the air hostess was giving safety instructions to the passengers.

Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai were present on the flight. The instructions were interrupted when Surya stood up and told the air hostess that the emergency door had been inadvertently opened.

The emergency door in an ATR which is a small aircraft is in the front. Most of the seats have handles in an ATT, but the ones near the emergency exit do not have an armrest.

Many media reports said that Surya allegedly opened the door which led to a two hour delay. Citing an eyewitness, one media report said that Surya opened the exit and he was made to apologise.

Since the door near the emergency exit does not have an armrest, Surya was lightly resting his hand on the door. A report said that Surya is the one who indicated to the air hostess that the door may slightly opened.

The air hostess then began taking safety precautions which are required as the lever had been pushed down without Surya's knowledge. Surya then got up and apologised to the passengers due to the delay that had been caused. Protocol mandated that the incident had to be given in writing to the airlines and airport authorities and the same had also been done.

Surya who also holds the position of BJP Yuva Morcha president had addressed youth workers in Tamil Nadu on December 10.

However after the news was published by some outlets, the Opposition parties including the Congress, DMK and TMC claimed that the accidental opening of the emergency door of the flight was a huge mistake and put lives at risk.

On the 10th, the state president of the 'Photoshop' party and the national president of Ilajnarani had irresponsibly opened the 'emergency' door of the plane while taking off, V Senthil Balaji electricity minister of Tamil Nadu had said in a tweet in Tamil.

However the airlines issued a statement that the passenger immediately apologised for their action. The statement also said that as per the SOPs, the incident had been logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks which led to a delay in the departure of the flight.