Ramdev meets Gadkari, gets saffron backing for his movement

June 4, 2012

New Delhi, June 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday backed Baba Ramdev's movement against black money, with the yoga guru meeting party president Nitin Gadkari at his residence here.

"Baba Ramdev's fight against black money is very important. We as the party support Baba Ramdev in this 'andolan' (movement). This is an agitation above party lines; this is for the benefit of the country," Gadkari said after the meeting Monday.

The BJP president also bowed down to touch Ramdev's feet. He later said it was a gesture of respect and he was following Indian culture.

The two, however, ruled out any political motive behind the meeting. "This movement is not against any political party. It is for the benefit of the nation,"Ramdev said.

He said he had also sought time from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leaders of 10 other political parties.

"I will be meeting A.B. Bardhan (Communist Party of India) on 15th (June), Prakash Karat (Communist Party of India - Marxist) day after tomorrow, Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal - United) on 7th, and have also sought time from Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena)," Ramdev said.

The meeting comes a day after Ramdev, along with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, sat on a day-long fast at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Meanwhile, Gadkari said Sonia Gandhi should "rise above politics" and support the civil society's anti-corruption movement.

"I will request Sonia Gandhi ... she should understand that this movement is not against any political party ... She should rise above politics to save the country and support this movement. Bringing black money back is in favour of the nation," Gadkari said.

As per reports, the Congress president, at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet Monday morning, defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the opposition and the civil society were conspiring with anti-Congress elements to undermine the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the prime minister and senior ministers.

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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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