Congress's 'emergency exit' swipe at Tejasvi Surya over ‘lessons on rescuing’ tweet
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had hit out at former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for urging central government to ensure safe return of stranded Indian nationals in Sudan.
The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya over his reaction to former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah's tweet regarding the stranded Indian nationals in embattled Sudan. On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah posted a series of tweets urging the central government to initiate action to ensure the safe return of people belonging to Karnataka's Hakki Pikki tribe, drawing backlash from BJP leaders including Tejasvi Surya. (Also Read | On Sudan clashes, Siddaramaiah hits back at ‘appalled’ Jaishankar)
Surya said that the BJP doesn't need “lessons on rescuing stranded Indians" from the Congress party and pointed to the Vande Bharat mission launched in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia war to rescue thousands of stranded nationals in the war-torn country.
“Modi Govt has rescued lakhs of stranded Indians during Vande Bharat Mission, students during Ukraine war, nurses from Yemen and more. All Kannadigas will return safe!” he said in a tweet.
Taking a jibe at Surya, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate tweeted, “Just make sure this man isn’t in the flight fiddling with the emergency exit door,” in an apparent reference to the December 2022 incident when the Lok Sabha member “accidentally” opened the emergency door of a flight in Chennai.
On flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on Dec 10, 2022, Surya accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. As per IndiGo, the airline operator, “The passenger immediately apologised for the action. As per SOPs, the incident was logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight’s departure.”
While IndiGo didn't name Surya, the civil aviation ministry confirmed his name in a response to a question by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Lala Roy. Minister of state (MoS) for civil aviation, Gen (Retd) V.K. Singh replied, “As per the report submitted by M/s Interglobe Aviation Limited, the name of the passenger alleged in the incident is Tejasvi Surya who had boarded flight 6E-7339 (Chennai to Tiruchirappalli) at Chennai Airport on December 10, 2022. The emergency door opened accidentally as clarified by Interglobe Aviation Limited.
