New Delhi
3 October 2005
Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath used a
Madhya Pradesh
Government aircraft to fly to Pakistan for the G-20 ministerial conference,
which was held last month in the resort town of Murree near Islamabad.
The minister, accompanied by certain members of his delegation, flew in
a six-seater on the night of September 8 and returned home on the
morning of September 10 as an
Indian Air Force plane was not available.
The minister's aides claimed that since the Prime Minister's Office and
the Indian Air
Force were busy with the logistics of the India-EU and the India-UK talks,
they sought to
make arrangements elsewhere.
"The minister held talks with his British counterpart on September 8 and
since there was no direct [commercial] flight, we sought permission for an
IAF plane from the PMO. Since the IAF was busy transporting the VIPs
after the venue of the talks was shifted from Shimla to Udaipur, it was
decided that a plane be chartered," an aide explained.
A word was then sent out that an aircraft be chartered from any of the state
governments "closer to Delhi". It was Madhya Pradesh that gave us the
nod because not many state governments have an aircraft, the aide said
when contacted by this newspaper on Monday evening.
For fear of raking up a controversy, a state government aircraft was
preferred over one owned by a private concern. "Otherwise," he went on
to clarify, "questions could have been raised as why only that company's
plane was chosen."
The minister, one was told, had similarly chartered a Karnataka
Government helicopter to reach Coonoor in Tamil Nadu from Bangalore
sometime ago.
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