Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s helicopter was delayed on Friday because of security protocols related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, days after Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was held up for the same reason.
Rahul, who campaigned for Deepika Pandey Singh — the Congress candidate for the Mahagama Assembly seat in Godda, Jharkhand — on Friday, returned to the temporary helipad at Belbadda in Godda around 2pm. However, according to the Congress leaders, “his helicopter was denied permission to fly for Delhi for more than one-and-a-half hours by the Air Traffic Control (ATC)”.
Rahul stayed inside the helicopter before the ATC gave clearance around 3.45pm.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived in Deoghar airport in Jharkhand and left for Jamui in Bihar to attend a ceremony organised to mark the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Bhagwan Birsa Munda. He returned to Deoghar airport at 1.45pm, but there was reportedly some technical snag in his plane and he had to stay at the airport. He returned around 5pm after another plane was arranged by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Deoghar is around 80km away from Godda.
On November 4, the JMM had written a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, seeking her intervention after Hemant Soren’s helicopter was grounded for 90 minutes in a Maoist-affected area of Gudri in West Singhbhum because of security protocols related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chaibasa.
Congress MP and general secretary in-charge for communication, Jairam Ramesh, on Friday evening wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI), saying that party leader Rahul Gandhi’s election campaign in Jharkhand was delayed after his helicopter was not allowed to take off at Godda. The party requested the commission to “urgently intervene in this situation and ensure that the level playing field is not disrupted in such a manner”.
The Congress leader in the memorandum said it was told that “due to the protocol of other leaders in the vicinity, a no-fly zone restriction had been put in place”.
Ramesh said in the memorandum that as per “approved schedule and permissions in place”, Rahul and his team were to take off at 1.15pm from Godda to fly to other locations across the state.