CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's helicopter was not allowed to take off initially for Hoshiarpur As 'no-fly zone' restriction was imposed due to the movement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Channi was on his way to attend the rally of former congress president Rahul Gandhi and thus missed the rally. After few hours when the flight took off, it could only reach Sujanpur.
Highly placed sources said that the authorities did not initially permit Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s helicopter to take off from Rajendra Park at Chandigarh as 'no-fly zone' restriction was reportedly imposed due to the movement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in Jalandhar to attend a rally.
A helipad had been set up at police lines at Hoshiarpur but CM’s advance security team left the venue when intimated about the development. As the chopper was only allowed to take off after few hours and that also for Sujanpur only as CM Channi had to address a rally there and from there Channi had to go to Jalandhar but again the chopper was not permitted to take off for Jalandhar from Sujanpur. Thus the Chief Minister went by road to Jalandhar.
"Earlier in the morning the chopper had dropped Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh,’’ said an officer. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that he had the clearance to take off from Chandigarh and land at Hoshiarpur. But when he went and sat in my
helicopter the pilots said they cannot fly. They kept telling me wait for a while.
"Had they told me last night, I would have gone to Hoshiarpur by road,’’ he said. Channi said, "The Prime Minister had come. Let his chopper land, but my helicopter should have also been allowed."
Former Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar said, "It is shameful that the chief
minister was allowed take off and come to the rally. The Election Commission must take cognizance of it.’’
Jakhar asked Prime Minister to respond on the issue, as he said, "The PM who cited threat to his life when his cavalcade was interrupted, must explain why the permission was denied to our CM.’’
Meanwhile at the Jalandhar rally Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his helicopter was held up in Punjab because `Yuvraj ‘ (prince) was flying to Amritsar. He said he had come to Punjab to campaign for the national election, after being named the BJP's presumptive Prime Minister, when the incident took place.
"I was named PM candidate. I had to visit Pathankot and then go to Himachal for campaign. But my chopper was not allowed to fly to Pathankot because their yuvraj (prince) was also in Amritsar. He was only a Congress MP. The Congress has a habit of not allowing the opposition to work,’’ said Modi while referring to the 2014 incident.