IndiGo bans TDP MP Diwakar Reddy from its flights

IndiGo today barred TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy from its flights following his alleged unruly behaviour at the Visakhapatnam airport after being denied boarding as he had reached late.
Telugu Desam Party's J C Diwakar Reddy was scheduled to fly IndiGo's flight 6E-608, which departs from Visakhapatnam at 8.10 am, to Hyderabad. But he reached just 28 minutes before the scheduled departure, according to the airline.
As per norms laid out by the aviation regulator, airlines close check-in counters for all domestic fights 45 minutes prior to departure.
The MP was later accommodated on the same flight.
Later, the airline, however, said it would not permit him on its flights.

IndiGo will not allow Reddy on its flights, a top airline official told PTI.

Reddy -- who had allegedly vandalised the Air India office at Gannavaram airport in Vijaywada last year after he missed his flight -- got into a verbal spat with the ground staff and threw a printer kept at the airline's counter after he was informed that boarding for his flight had closed.
Television channels also showed CCTV visuals of him allegedly pushing an IndiGo employee.
"The staff politely informed him that boarding for flight 6E-608 is closed and offered to accommodate Mr Reddy in the subsequent flight. Mr Reddy expressed his annoyance and soon raged against the staff using aggressive and abusive behaviour," IndiGo had said in a statement earlier.

The airline maintained that any untoward conduct which compromises the safety and security of passengers and staff is a serious concern. Safety and security of passengers, crew and the aircraft is the top priority and it cannot be compromised, it added.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju also belongs to the TDP.