Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman skips IAF flight, takes private airline

CHENNAI: Union Defence Minister Nirmala skipped her official IAF flight to the national capital on Sunday owing to imposition of Election Commission's model code of conduct and instead boarded a private airline flight to reach Delhi.

The Minister who launched the Tamil Nadu BJP’s NaMo Warriors decided to avoid a trip back on the special aircraft and chose a commercial flight to New Delhi from here minutes after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the seven-phase Lok Sabha elction.

According to sources, she also avoided government car and escort vehicles and arrived at the airport in the car of a BJP leader.

The Minister was scheduled to board a special aircraft but shortly before her departure time, the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls and Ms. Nirmala took a private carrier's 8.40 pm flight to the national capital.

Airport sources said she told officials not to come to the airport to see her off. When the code of conduct comes into force, Ministers are barred from using the official vehicle with beacon light and the government too ought to refrain from making any new announcements or programmes.