Karunanidhi denies threatening to pull out of UPA government

May 30, 2012

Chennai, May 30: Within hours of threatening to pull out of the Central government if it failed to roll back the petrol price hike, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday denied having made any such threat.

Blaming the media for misquoting him with a view to creating mischief, Karunanidhi told mediapersons that what he meant was that the DMK had not hesitated to pull out of the ministry in the past when the Union government failed to address public issues. He said, "What I said is that we have walked out in the past. I did not say we will walk out now from the Central government. It is media mischief."

With the Presidential election round the corner, he said the DMK would not do anything that would rock the UPA government. "Rather, we will remain in the alliance with all the bitterness." He said the Prime Minister had assured the DMK that he would look into the petrol price hikeissue.

Asked whether his party would quit if there was no roll back, Karunanidhi said, "I can't say at present as to what we will do if the hike is not rolled back. If we pull out, then there will be a crisis at the Centre and communal forces will seize the opportunity. We don't want to create such a situation."

Earlier in the day, addressing a DMK gathering organised to protest the petrol price hike, M Karunanidhi had warned the Centre that the DMK may be forced to pull out from the government if "anti-people policies" continued. Leading the protest in Chennai, Karunanidhi said: "We have been in coalition in the past with the BJP and VP Singh ( Janata Dal). Though we are a part of the central government, DMK has not hesitated to stop anti-people measures. It's in that spirit we are holding this agitation. We will sail with the Center as long as possible. We will request first, then will raise our objections strongly, if it is not responded to then we will leave to uphold our pro-people principles and policies. The Centre should not give room to drive us to that extent."

This is for the first time after a year since DMK tasted defeat in the assembly elections last year, that Karunanidhi participated in a protest. He had strongly condemned the Centre's stand on theMullaperiyar dam issue a few months ago.

Addressing the protest meeting, Karunanidhi also said the state government should protect the people from the burden of central taxes by its own strength. He observed that both the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government had raised prices of essential commodities. "Which government is going to rollback the price hike first? Who is going to receive people's appreciation? he asked. "Here is a competition, both governments should come forward to help the people," he commented in a sarcastic vein.

A host of DMK leaders including K Anbazhagan, MK Stalin and former ministers participated in the state-wide protests against the Centre and state government.

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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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