Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, who had served as a police officer in Karnataka before taking a political plunge, has claimed that that BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya, did not open the emergency exit of an IndiGo aircraft they were travelling in recently.
Surya faced backlash after reports emerged that it was he who had allegedly pulled open the emergency exit of an IndiGo flight before take-off at the Chennai airport in December last year.
Speaking to the media in Chikkamagaluru, Annamalai said that he was accompanying Surya in the flight when the alleged incident took place on December 2, last year.
“It was an ATR 72, a small aircraft. In a small aircraft, the emergency doors will be in the front side. Tejasvi Surya was seated in the emergency seat. In that ATR aircraft, you will not even find a handrest. He was just holding the emergency door. We were chatting, and at that time the flight didn't take off. People were still boarding,” he said.
“After a while, he told me that there was a bleed which had peeled off and there was a gap in the door. I also saw that and alerted the air hostess. Thereafter, she called the pilot and narrated the incident. The pilot had to follow the procedure and he had de-boarded the passengers,” claimed the Tamil Nadu BJP chief.
He further added, “They rectified the problem and fixed the door. Tejasvi Surya had given an incident report on the same. When these kinds of incidents occur, they have to submit in writing about the incident. So, he gave the report in the incident form.”
“Tejasvi Surya didn't pull the door. He travels so much and is educated. Why will he pull the door?” questioned the former IPS officer turned politician.
Annamalai further refuted the media report that stated that the South Bengaluru MP had opened the emergency door and claimed that Surya did not apologise in the incident report. However, the TN BJP chief added that Surya had apologised to the passengers and that Surya was not at fault.
“When he was holding, the door had peeled off. He had also mentioned this in the incident report. Tejasvi didn't apologise, as per media reports. He had written about it. You all know he is an MP, and he is in a responsible position. So, he apologised to the passengers, despite there being no fault with him. Still, the flight was delayed because he was seated there,” concluded Annamalai.
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