Plane politics

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Madhya Pradesh industry minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia recently put her own chief minister's safety in question. Asked by journalists if she would fly to Mumbai to attend the last rites of Gopinath Munde, the Union rural development minister who died in a car crash last week, she said no. The reason, she explained, was that the state government's aircraft was worn out and she had become cautious about safety after an air crash claimed the life of her brother Madhavrao Scindia. Later, however, the state aviation minister sought to rescue the reputation of the state-owned plane and the image of the government by describing her concerns as "personal". The same plane is used by the chief minister and other ministers too, the minister pointed out in justification.