CM forced to travel by road after chopper takes off without him

Team Udayavani, Oct 28, 2018, 11:13 AM IST

Hassan: Having missed the scheduled take-off deadline of a commercial helicopter from Shravanabelagola here, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, on Saturday was forced to travel by road to Bengaluru after finishing campaigning for party nominee L.R. Shivarame Gowda in Krishnaraja Pet of Mandya.

As per the itinerary, Kumaraswamy was supposed to board the chopper at 5:15 pm. Heeding to the request of the officials here the chopper was kept waiting for the Chief minister’s arrival until 5.30 pm beyond which it could not wait as dusk had set in, reducing visibility in the area. When Kumaraswamy along with two cabinet colleagues arrived at Shravanabelagola at 5.50 pm they found that the chopper had already taken off without them. Later they took a car to reach Bengaluru.

“Had the CM  boarded the helicopter on time, the journey to Bengaluru from Shravanabelagola would have been a mere 30-minute one, but by road it took hours to reach the city,” said a source.