Rabri throws a VIP fit; delays IA Patna flight

NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi's writ might not run in Bhojpur but she did manage to delay Indian Airlines flight IC-411...

NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi’s writ might not run in Bhojpur but she did manage to delay Indian Airlines flight IC-411 to Patna by more than an hour.

On her way back after meeting the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, she insisted that a VIP car ferry her to the aircraft. When the airport manager refused saying she wasn’t entitled to this facility, her supporters, including brother Sadhu Yadav, tried to intimidate the manager.

Rabri finally boarded the aircraft through the normal gate at the domestic terminal.

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Sources said that while the Bihar Chief Minister waited at the VIP lounge, her supporters, including senior MPs, and State Government officials tried to argue her case. As a result, the flight, scheduled to leave at 5:40 p.m. left at 6:45 pm.

Her brother Sadhu Yadav is said to have led MPs and officials to the Airport Manager’s office and asked the manager on duty to provide a VIP car.

According to senior airport officials, rules say that only persons with Z-plus category security and VVIPs in the list provided by the Ministry of Civil Aviation are entitled to a VIP car to the aircraft.

A senior airport official also said that the manager was threatened of dire consequences by some people accompanying the officials. “It has become routine for us to face such ugly incidents because of VIPs at this terminal, even though we are only going by the rules,” said an official from the Airports Authority of India. Bihar Niwas officials could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.