Rahul Gandhi stranded overnight in Madhya Pradesh after helicopter grounded; BJP mocks situation with ‘no take off’ joke

PTI, Apr 9, 2024, 9:02 AM IST

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will stay overnight in Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh as his helicopter could not take off due to inclement weather, a party functionary said on Monday.

However, later in the evening, BJP leaders, including former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, claimed the helicopter had run out of fuel.

Gandhi is in MP for his party’s Lok Sabha campaign and he addressed two rallies in Mandla and Shahdol, which will go to polls on April 26.

”His helicopter could not take off due to bad weather in Shahdol. Gandhi was supposed to fly to Jabalpur from where he was to leave for Delhi,” MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari told PTI.

”Now, he will stay overnight in a hotel in Shahdol and leave at 6am on Tuesday,” Patwari informed.

Meanwhile, former MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a jibe by claiming Gandhi’s party and his helicopter had run out of fuel.

Addressing a gathering in Chawalpani under Chhindwara LS seat on Monday night, Chouhan said, ”Rahul Gandhi came to Shahdol today but his helicopter couldn’t take off because of shortage of fuel. If the fuel of the Congress has run out, how will there be fuel for Rahul’s helicopter?” ”The Congress is not taking off like Rahul Gandhi’s helicopter. No matter how much Madam Sonia Gandhi pushes him, Rahul Gandhi will not take off,” he added.

Chouhan also said the career of Nakul Nath, the Congress’ sitting MP from Chhindwara, is also not taking off.

Nath is pitted against BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu in Chhindwara, the only seat the BJP failed to win in MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.