Ordered out of a Dubai-bound Indian flight after he allegedly delayed the aircraft’s departure from Kozhikode this morning, Kerala’s richest MP is thinking of moving a privilege motion in Parliament against the pilot.
In the eye of the storm is P V Abdul Wahab, Muslim League’s influential Rajya Sabha MP with business interests in the Gulf. He had declared a net worth of Rs 130 crore when he filed his nomination four years ago.
Wahab was booked on Indian’s Kozhikode-Kochi-Dubai flight with his family this morning. Airport sources said the take-off was delayed until the MP and his kin turned up some 15 minutes past the scheduled departure time.
The angry pilot summoned the local airport manager, who had entered the aircraft with the MP, and pulled him up. Sources said Wahab got into an argument with the pilot who then declared that the plane would not take off until the MP removed himself. Wahab got off the plane and his baggage was removed, the sources said.
But sources close to Wahab claimed that the MP had done no wrong. “He arrived well in time for the flight and was resting in the airport lounge since there was some confusion over the flight timing. The airport manager came and took him to the aircraft and the pilot rebuked the manager for some delay, at which Wahab intervened. The pilot allegedly told Wahab that he did not care if he was an MP and asked him to get out of the aircraft,” sources close to Wahab said, adding that the MP was planning to move a privilege motion against the “humiliation”.
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