“It is nothing but the recalcitrant and deliberate attitude of the minister (Patel) to throw a spanner in the development of the airport with the malicious intention to thwart and mitigate the continued and honest efforts made by me to achieve the timely implementation of this project,” Muttemwar wrote. He was learnt to have taken it up with Congress President Sonia Gandhi as well.

“This is a case of sour grapes. We propose to make Nagpur an international air cargo hub and so now frivolous people are trying to hog the limelight when they know it is going to happen,” Patel told The Indian Express. “I think I have done more for the development of the aviation sector in Nagpur in the last three years than what has been done in the last 50 years,” he added.