Flight to join Congress programme delayed, Mamata smells Centre's conspiracy

Kolkata, Nov 17: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday left for New Delhi to attend a programme on India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whose 125th birth anniversary was observed on November 14. Banerjee even dropped a plan to attend the closing ceremony of the Kolkata film festival to make herself available at Congress's programme. [Mamata rediscovers Nehru, says he wrote Freedom At Midnight]

However, Banerjee had a bitter experience at the airport here before that. As her Air India (AI) flight was delayed by three hours, she complained in her close quarters that the delay was a conspiracy to disrupt her plans, local media reports said. Banerjee finally left for the capital in an Indigo flight.

This is not the first time that Banerjee expressed her displeasure if any arrangement in her schedule went wrong. In the past, the leader had reprimanded officers over the delay in the landing of her flight in Kolkata or blasting her security personnel after failing to find her car at the Kolkata book fair or suspending a doctor of a hospital instantly.

Banerjee in the past slammed officials even over the slightest of lapses

Banerjee's flight to New Delhi was supposed to take off at 5.30 pm on Sunday but the AI authorities said in the morning that it would be delayed by three hours, leaving the chief minister fuming. She said it was a decision to harass her and decided to lodge a complaint with the aviation ministry.

Sources in the AI said the delay was caused by shortage of pilots. A number of pilots are undergoing training for renewal of their licenses, hence the shortage.

But for Banerjee, it was a deliberate strategy of the Modi government to clip her wings.

Oneindia News