High drama at Bhopal airport as plane with Cong MLAs made to wait for 4 hrs

Bhopal: Chaos and confusion erupted at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport on Tuesday after a group of Congress MLAs and their family members, who had gathered to board a special flight to Bengaluru, were left stranded for hours. The trip was later abruptly called off after Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination was cancelled.

Around noon, 74 passengers — including 38 MLAs and their family members — arrived at the airport expecting to depart immediately. Another 20 MLAs were due to travel on an evening flight. The sudden rejection of Natarajan’s nomination upset those plans and sparked uncertainty.

Airport authorities initially refused clearance for the outbound aircraft because officials were presented with a handwritten passenger manifest, which the Bhopal airport administration said was not valid. “They were allowed to depart only after completing the formalities and submitting the manifest for all 74 passengers. Any handwritten manifest was not acceptable,” a senior airport official said.

The refusal to clear the flight left legislators and their families stranded for more than four hours. Some waited inside the terminal while others stood outside with luggage, unsure whether spouses and children would be permitted to travel with the MLAs.

The disruption occurred amid a tense political backdrop.

The BJP has fielded Mahesh Kevat, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh fisheries welfare board, for the Rajya Sabha seat long held by the Congress. Both Natarajan and Kevat had filed their nominations on Monday, turning the contest into a high-stakes test of party discipline amid fears of cross-voting.

Congress spokesperson Vivek Tripathi accused airport authorities of deliberate obstruction, alleging the group had been barred from entering the terminal between noon and 4:30 pm. “Everything was being done deliberately,” he said.

Airport officials defended their actions, saying regulatory procedures and security requirements had to be met. After the required formalities were completed and a valid manifest submitted, the aircraft was cleared to depart.