Jyotiraditya Scindia was a Union minister during the UPA era, but quit the party after 2014, saying he was upset with the stepmotherly treatment he was getting from the Congress in MP, where the grand old party was in power with Kamal Nath. Chief Minister. (PTI File)
The air fare controversy has a back story from 2020 when the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government fell, Kamal Nath accused the BJP of conspiring with Jyotiraditya Scindia, which led to the toppling of his government by 22 ‘greedy MLAs’ Was
Madhya Pradesh’s war is now in the sky and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is on target. It all started with several advisories from the minister and his ministry to airlines to control airfares, especially on routes that GoFirst was flying and have now stopped operations. After the horrific Balasore train accident, the ministry had also advised that the fare should be affordable in case of accidents and emergencies.
The war of words started after the ministry claimed an increase in aviation traffic. This was immediately opposed by Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, who tweeted: “Hard facts and the everyday suffering of the middle class cannot be brushed aside by distorting figures and misrepresenting actual facts on the ground.”
Scindia hit back in a series of tweets, accusing the Congress leader of cherry-picking facts and “forgetting the step-motherly treatment meted out to aviation during the UPA government”.
Interestingly, Scindia was a Union minister during the UPA era, but quit the party after 2014, saying he was upset with the step-motherly treatment he was getting from the Congress, especially in MP, where the grand old party is in alliance with Kamal. was in power. Nath is the Chief Minister.
Scindia was quick to respond to the fact that fares have gone up on routes where GoFirst has stopped flying. He also asked why three airlines – Kingfisher, Paramount and Air Deccan – were shut down during the UPA.
The back story of 2020, when the Kamal Nath government that lasted for 15 months fell, is behind this ongoing controversy over air fares. In fact, the Chief Minister of MP had resigned even before the floor test when he realized that he did not have the numbers to win. Nath accused the BJP of conspiring with the ‘Maharaja’ (Scindia), which led to the toppling of his government by 22 ‘greedy MLAs’.
Since then the Congress has not forgiven Scindia. After quitting the party, Rahul Gandhi said his doors were always open for his ‘friend’ Scindia, who betrayed him.
The leader retorted that the Nath-Digvijay Singh combo ensured that he was repeatedly humiliated in Madhya Pradesh and his supporters were denied space and respect.
As Nath and the Congress make another pitch to storm back to power in MP, with the hope that the anti-incumbency wave against Shivraj Singh Chouhan works for them, the grand old party will have to exact its revenge on the ‘Maharaja’ hopefully. The ruckus over airfares is mere shadowboxing. The real fight is the palace intrigue in which Nath Sarkar did it.
