Rahul Gandhi cancelled his own flight, claims Varanasi airport amid reports of govt denying him permission to land

Lucknow: The authorities at Varanasi airport allegedly denied landing to the chartered plane carrying congress leader Rahul Gandhi. While the airport officials denied any such incident, the congress party said it was done at the behest of the Uttar Pradesh Government. Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to attend a programme of Kamla Nerhu Trust in Prayagraj. As per the plan, Rahul was to land at Varanasi airport and then go to Prayagraj by road. 

Statement by the Varanasi Airport

"The flight was cancelled by M/s AR Airways by sending an email to AAI Varanasi Airport at 2116 hrs on February 13th, 2013. Please correct your statement as the flight was cancelled by the operator," the official account of the airport tweeted in response to an article alleging the same.

Congress leader Ajay Rai claims Gandhi's jet was denied permission to land in Varnasi

Regional congress president Ajay Rai said that airport authority at Varanasi did not allow his plane to land due to pressure from the government. According to him, traffic jam was cited as the reason behind this denial by the authorities. He said that BJP Government is scared of Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister is worried due to the success of Barat Jodo Yatra. Rai said that Rahul’s plane had arrived at airport area of Babatpur, Varanasi and took 2-3  round but was not allowed landing. He said that the chartered plane of Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to land at Varanasiairport at 11 PM on Monday. The security staff as well as the local congress leaders had already arrived at the airport, said congress leader. Ajai Rai said that Rahul was to offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi before moving for Prayagraj.

Meanwhile the airport officials said that they received message of cancellation of the flight of Rahul Gandhi. The director of Varanasi airport Aryama Sanyal said that the company operating Rahul Gandhi’s flight gave this information about cancellation of flight. The aircraft operator had informed at 9.30 PM on Monday that plane has moved for New Delhi from Kinnaur, Kerala. 

The Deputy Commissioner of Police at Prayagraj, Deepak Bhukhar said that protocol was issued for the visit of Rahul Gandhi. As per it he was supposed to reach Anand Bhawan late in the night and elaborate security arrangements were made. However, the visit was cancelled due to some reasons not known to him.