As a row erupted over the opening of the emergency exit of an Indigo aircraft by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, the Tamil Nadu BJP Chief K. Annamalai who was traveling with Surya came forward to his defense and explained the incident in detail. He emphasized that Tejasvi Surya flagged that the emergency door was not in the right place and was disturbed. The issue was blown out of proportion as some members of the DMK and Congress were traveling in the same flight, Annamalai added.
“Tejasvi is an educated and responsible person. It was not his fault that the flight was delayed,” Annamalai said, adding that it was not possible to open the emergency door.
The BJP added that amid the initial seating adjustments, Surya was uncomfortable with his seating position and people were also approaching him for selfies and photos. During all this commotion his hand accidentally touched the emergency door and Surya realized that the door the not exactly in the right place.
“I saw and I won’t say the door was open but it appeared that the position of the door was slightly disturbed from its original position,” Annamalai said.
“When everybody is watching you, can you open the screw and open the door? Yes, the door was displaced. But what Congress is saying is that Tejasvi Surya came with a screw and then opened the emergency exit and showed it to everyone. It is very stupid,” Annamalai said.
After the BJP leaders informed the crew about the issue, the pilot came and checked, and ultimately an engineer was called to fix the emergency door to its right place. Annamalai said that it was a 5-minute procedure, however the engineer emphasized on following the procedure regarding the cabin pressure, so we all were asked to deboard the plane.
Tejasvi was asked to write an incident report by the crew and as he felt a little guilty he apologized to the passengers for the inconvenience after which an elderly lady also blessed him, Annamalai said. “I distinctly remember an elderly passenger giving her blessing and telling Tejasvi, ‘Beta, it’s your karma and our karma that something mischievous didn’t happen and you found out’,” he said.
The issue came to light on 17 January, and the airline informed about the incident without naming Tejasvi Surya. Congress party attacked the BJP and the South Bengaluru MP over the issue.
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia also commented on the issue and said “I think it’s important to look at the facts. The door did open by mistake…and he also said sorry for it himself.”
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