Opposition parties have labelled Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s unplanned landing in London, which diverged from his original destination of Zurich, as a breach of court orders. Despite the state government’s clarification on the stopover, the opposition parties demanded an explanation.
Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, the leader of the opposition in the AP Legislative Council, said the Chief Minister’s halt in London on Friday night was a blatant breach of the CBI special court’s clearance, which authorised him to visit only Switzerland.
Reddy, who is on bail pending trial in various criminal cases brought by the CBI and the ED, needed the court’s permission to go abroad. The Chief Minister, accompanied by his wife Bharati and Aviation Advisor Bharat Reddy, boarded a special plane from Vijayawada on Friday morning and was scheduled to land in Zurich on way to Davos, according to the CMO’s itinerary.
The CM and his entourage instead arrived in London after flying across Switzerland. According to a press statement from the CMO, Reddy arrived in Zurich on Saturday evening.
From Sunday, the Chief Minister will attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. As per a statement made by the state government on Saturday, citing Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, the Chief Minister’s chartered aircraft became stranded in Istanbul, where it stopped for refuelling, owing to ‘heavy air traffic’. ‘This caused further delay in the flight reaching London. Even in London, there was heavy air traffic and by then it was well past the landing time (10 pm local time) in Zurich’, the statement said.
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Despite the Indian Embassy’s plea to the authorities in Zurich to enable the Chief Minister’s special aircraft to land, Rajendranath stated permission was denied because ‘landing is not allowed after 10 pm in Zurich for many years now’.
However, the statement didn’t explain why the Chief Minister travelled all the way to London since his initial destination (Zurich) was halfway between Istanbul and London.
‘The government should reveal the mystery behind Jagan and his family’s trip to London. Why did he go on such a secretive visit to London when the court only permitted his trip to Switzerland? A lot of public money has been wasted on the chartered flight for a trip that is ostensibly private’, TDP leader Ramakrishnudu alleged.
Sake Sailajanath, the state Congress president, also requested an explanation for the Chief Minister’s mysterious journey to London. ‘How can he splurge public money for his personal holiday trip, at a time when the state government is borrowing money even to pay salaries to staff?’ Sailajanath questioned.
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