A political row has erupted in Maharashtra after BJP MLC Chitra Wagh briefly uploaded photos of herself and other party leaders travelling to Nagpur on a luxury chartered aircraft, even as thousands of passengers across the country grapple with widespread delays and cancellations of IndiGo flights.
The images, posted and swiftly deleted from her social media account, showed Wagh alongside BJP legislators Praveen Darekar, Sumit Wankhede and party media head Navnath Ban en route to the Winter Session of the Assembly. The aircraft is understood to belong to BJP MLC Prasad Lad.
The visuals triggered sharp criticism from the opposition, which accused the ruling party of displaying “double standards” at a time when ordinary citizens are stranded in airports and struggling with severe disruption of commercial air travel.
Screenshots of Wagh’s deleted post continued to circulate widely, fuelling public debate and drawing further scrutiny of the leaders’ travel choices.
The controversy escalated as Uddhav Sena leader Aditya Thackeray targeted Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for recently mocking Uddhav Thackeray’s decision to avoid flying on IndiGo flights.
Fadnavis had remarked that “flights have no issues” while taking a dig at the former chief minister, even suggesting he could be sent by road via the new Samruddhi Highway.
Aditya Thackeray countered that Fadnavis himself travelled to Nagpur on a chartered aircraft, which he claimed made multiple trips to ferry ministers, undermining the very criticism directed at his father.
Opposition leaders also revived questions about the use of helicopters by the Chief Minister and both Deputy Chief Ministers, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, during the recent Nagar Panchayat election campaigns.
They argued that while the ruling party criticises others for opting out of commercial airlines, its own leaders frequently rely on chartered planes and choppers for official movement.
Allegations regarding the transport of large, unverified bags in helicopters during campaign tours added another layer to the criticism and intensified the political sparring.
The BJP has not issued a detailed response to the charter flight episode, but the withdrawal of Wagh’s post has been interpreted by rivals as an attempt to contain backlash.
However, the controversy has persisted, becoming a flashpoint in the broader conversation around transparency and accountability in the use of private and state resources.
As disruptions in air travel continue to inconvenience thousands, the episode has turned into a symbol of the perceived disconnect between political leadership and public hardship, with calls growing for clearer norms governing official travel by those in power.
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Published On:
Dec 8, 2025
