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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Bhujbal’s chopper lands in Pune parking lot

Mumbai : In what is suspected to be a breach of aviation protocols, a chartered helicopter ferrying Food & Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Mumbai to Pune skipped a designated helipad and landed in a vehicle parking lot almost a km away.   The shocker happened in Purandar taluka, where Bhujbal was slated to attend a function marking the 200 th  birth anniversary of the social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in his home village Khanwadi.   As crowds of bewildered people watched...

Bhujbal’s chopper lands in Pune parking lot

Mumbai : In what is suspected to be a breach of aviation protocols, a chartered helicopter ferrying Food & Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Mumbai to Pune skipped a designated helipad and landed in a vehicle parking lot almost a km away.   The shocker happened in Purandar taluka, where Bhujbal was slated to attend a function marking the 200 th  birth anniversary of the social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in his home village Khanwadi.   As crowds of bewildered people watched from around the sprawling parking lot, the helicopter appeared to drop speed in its flight, flew over some overhead high-tension electric cables, and descended gingerly into the parking lot - raising a thick dust-storm in which it disappeared for seconds - before touching the ground.   Moments later, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Bhujbal and others stepped out of the chopper, looked around in the unfamiliar territory before several vehicles and police teams rushed there. Minutes before there was chaos and confusion with some locals shouting warnings at the ‘wrong landing’.   Eyewitnesses said that the chopper’s powerful rotors created a thick dust storm and sparked alarm among the people in the vicinity, and many scrambled to the spot to check what exactly was going on in the parking lot.   Later, the Pune Police said that a designated helipad was available for the chopper landing but were at a loss to explain how the pilot missed it and veered off quite a distance away in the vehicle parking space. Subsequently, they asked the pilot to fly it to the correct landing spot.   Shaken and angry local NCP leaders questioned how a pilot flying a VIP on an official trip could mistake a parking lot for a helipad when the weather and visibility was clear. They demanded to know whether the helipad was improperly marked or it was a question of communication or sheer negligence.   The Pune Police indicated that they would report the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which may take action against the errant pilot and the helicopter company.   “There was no accident. We all emerged safely. The helicopter pilot landed wrongly in a parking lot because the helipad was not visible. All of us are fine and there is nothing to worry,” said Bhujbal, before he was whisked off by his security team.   “There are many faults in numerous airplanes and helicopters, including maintenance issues and other problems. That's why I keep saying consistently that VIPs must exercise caution while flying. Fortunately, an accident was averted today, but that doesn't mean the authorities should be negligent. We expect the government to take urgent precautions.” Rohit R. Pawar, MLA, NCP (SP)

Sunetra Pawar in a crowd 50-plus contenders

Mumbai:  The Nationalist Congress Party’s efforts for a walkover in Baramati Assembly by its President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Ajit Pawar may be a pipe-dream.

 

The by-poll has attracted a veritable circus of over 50-candidates with more than 60 nomination forms filed – negating the NCP’s public postures for an ‘unopposed election’ that created much political badmouthing.

 

As per Election Commission of India data, a total of 58 nominations were filed of which six were rejected on various grounds.

 

That leaves a whopping 50-plus nominees comprising independents or small parties still remaining in the fray, including the main rival, Congress-Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s formidable Adv. Akash M. More.

 

Nevertheless, NCP bigwigs are hopeful that many more, especially the non-serious candidates may fall by the wayside tomorrow – April 9 being the last date for withdrawals.

 

As Sunetra Pawar jostles in a crowd of contenders, many from the Mahayuti, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, her son Parth A. Pawar and other leaders have been publicly clamouring for a ‘consensus’ in memory of the late Ajit A. Pawar – who was killed in an aircrash on Jan.28.

 

Faced with the embarrassing predicament after the Congress gave a brutal tongue-lash to Parth Pawar for his utterances, now the NCP leaders have attempted to change the narrative.

 

Claiming that Sunetra Pawar’s victory is guaranteed, the effort now is to target a “historic mandate, with the highest number of votes polled and the widest margin over the nearest rival”, breaking records not only for Baramati Assembly segment but also of all the previous Pawar clan members who have won it.

 

Intended to be a solemn by-poll – necessitated after the tragic demise of the incumbent, Ajit Pawar, a 8-term MLA and 6-time DyCM – it has degenerated into a cacophony-cum-slanging match between the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.

 

While NCP Working President Praful Patel has reached out to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for withdrawing Adv. More’s candidature, the state unit led by Harshawardhan Sapkal has maintained a tough posture.

 

“If public sentiments matter so much, then what about the peoples’ doubts regarding the (Baramati) plane crash… Why is the government not registering a FIR in the matter,” Sapkal shot back today.

 

Even as some Congress leaders like Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe and others hinted at withdrawing from the by-poll race, Parth Pawar’s unexpected onslaught on the grand old party again soured the atmosphere.

 

As a massive row boiled over, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule, Rohit R. Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders like Sanjay Raut and others sided with the Congress and justified its decision to field Adv. More in Baramati – rankling the NCP.

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