Hazare says no fallout due to expulsion of Muslim leader

April 23, 2012

New Delhi, Apr 23: As fresh cracks appeared in Team Anna after the expulsion of a Muslim leader, Anna Hazare today said there is no rift in the group over the ''leakage'' of information or yoga guru Ramdev.

In his first reaction after the expulsion of Mufti Shameem Kazmi after he was allegedly found recording the proceedings of Core Committee meeting in Noida in UP, Hazare said that there is no fallout over the issue.

"There is no rift. What rift are you talking about? A team member who leaked information yesterday, there was a problem. People in our team had asked why he did so. So he said he would not come back," he told reporters.

"If there was a rift, they would have been fighting and there is no fallout," Hazare said.

Kazmi has claimed he quit the camp as the group was turning anti-Muslim.

Hazare also said there were no differences in the team over the participation of Ramdev in the anti-corruption movement.

"Right now, for over a month, I will tour Maharashtra. He has our support in his campaign against black money and we have his support on Jan Lokpal. We are all fighting together on tackling corruption," he said.

He said during the all-India tour, he and Ramdev will share stage wherever they meet. However, he said, there will be no joint tour.

His comments came amid growing unease in Team Anna over the "one-up manship" of Ramdev, with whom they had stitched an alliance to fight for the cause.

There were discussions on Team Anna's association with Ramdev, whom a section of the activists' believe has a "credibility crisis" due to allegations levelled against the yoga guru.

At the meeting yesterday, it was reiterated that there will not be a joint campaign with Ramdev but the two sides will extend support to each other in the fight against corruption.

Team Anna member and lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "We have begun a movement against corruption and on that pretext, Ramdev supports us but we have no common platform or any consensus.

"We do have a consensus regarding these issues and common concerns regarding the country," he said.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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