Fadnavis apologises for late arrival at function in Satara

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis apologised for arriving late at the venue of a function at Naigaon in Satara district Thursday, saying the delay was caused by late take-off of his helicopter from Pune.

While the local media claimed that the helicopter had a technical snag, an official in the chief minister's office (CMO) denied it.

"In the beginning, I express my apologies to everybody. I was supposed to come here at 10 am but the helicopter which was supposed to bring me here got delayed in Pune. I apologise for coming late," Fadnavis said at the function.

Local news channels claimed that the delay was caused by a technical snag in the chopper.

But a CMO official said this was not the case.

"The chief minister flew to Naigaon in the same helicopter. Where is the question of technical snag?" he asked.

Fadnavis has had some narrow escapes in mishaps involving helicopters since he became chief minister.

In 2017, a government chopper in which he was flying crashed at Latur after its rotor blades got entangled in power cables. But he escaped unhurt.