The passengers in the flight allegedly raised complaints, stating that they were getting disturbed by the baby’s cries.
A 30-year-old mother, who had just boarded the Vistara Airline flight from Chennai to New Delhi on Monday, was struggling to calm her four-month-old baby, who was crying. As she and her husband were consoling the baby, the cabin crew asked them to deboard the plane. Incidentally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was also travelling to Delhi on the same flight. The flight was delayed due to the incident, but it took off at 12.15 pm, without the mother and her baby.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister boarded the Vistara Airlines flight from Chennai to Delhi on Monday for a two-day official meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several senior BJP leaders. The flight was supposed to take off at 11.55 pm with 94 passengers. However, once all the passengers boarded the flight, a four-month-old baby reportedly started crying inconsolably. The parents of the baby — Rahul and Lakshmi Devi — tried to console the baby but their efforts failed.
Soon, the passengers in the flight allegedly started raising complains, stating that they were getting disturbed by the cries. Although scenarios where infants crying throughout the flight journey are common and flight attendants intervene to help the parents, in this case, the air hostess allegedly requested the mother to deboard the plane, along with her daughter. It is not immediately clear if the Tamil Nadu CM influenced the decision in any manner, directly or indirectly.
Initially, Lakshmi Devi showed apprehensions to exit but later agreed. The incident resulted in a delay of the flight by 15 minutes, said reports.
Once the mother and daughter were offloaded, the plane took off at 12.15 pm along with the Chief Minister and 92 passengers. The mother and baby were kept at the waiting hall and were rebooked on another Vistara flight to Delhi at the 5.30 pm.
On Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister travelled to Delhi on a two-day visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders to likely discuss the alliance for the upcoming Assembly polls in April-May 2021. The BJP is yet to formally announce the alliance with AIADMK. The talk is also likely to include the release of VK Sasikala, the aide of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, from prison on January 27.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister also visited Delhi to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inaugurating the memorial constructed for former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the Marina Beach.
Apart from polls and inauguration, the Chief Minister is also likely to seek funds from the Union government for several ongoing projects in the state.
Source: The News Minute