Grounded at last minute by airline, claims Kejriwal

The Indira Gandhi International Airport witnessed a lot of drama on Friday afternoon after Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal was allegedly barred from boarding a Kingfisher flight to Dharamshala. HT reports.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport witnessed a lot of drama on Friday afternoon after Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal was allegedly barred from boarding a Kingfisher flight to Dharamshala.

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Kejriwal, who is scheduled to an address a public rally in Kangra on Saturday, said he reached the airport and was issued a boarding pass, after which he was given his seat number. He cleared the security checks and reached the boarding gate to board flight IT 4355, which was scheduled to depart at 2.55pm with 66 passengers, including him.

Kejriwal told the media that he had bought the ticket online and had checked it properly before standing in the queue before the final boarding gate but was asked to step aside by the Kingfisher staff. “No reason was given by the aircraft authorities before offloading me,” he said.

The flight was later rescheduled for 4.30pm and finally cancelled at 4.40pm citing bad weather conditions at Dharamshala.

Sources at the airport said that Kejriwal vehemently protested at the Terminal 3 of the airport and members of India Against Corruption protested later outside Kingfisher’s office in south Delhi.

Despite repeated calls, Kingfisher spokesman couldn’t be contacted. Though Kejriwal said that no reason was given by the airline staff on why he wasn’t allowed to board the aircraft.

Kejriwal said that when he was prevented from boarding the aircraft despite having a valid boarding pass, he asked the airline staff to give it in writing that he was offloaded but the staff said that they will write that he has missed the flight.