Varanasi airport on Tuesday refuted allegations that permission was not granted for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s jet to land at Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport and clarified that the charter jet company carrying the leader cancelled the flight themselves.
Following the confusion over the permission, Congress leader Ajay Rai said that the airport authorities did not grant permission as they were under pressure from the 'government.' "They said there is a traffic jam here and deliberately did not give permission," he added. Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to visit Varanasi on Monday.
However, the airport stated, "The flight was cancelled by M/s AR Airways by sending an email to AAI Varanasi Airport at 2116 hrs on 13th Feb 2013. Please correct your statement as the flight was cancelled by the operator."
The tweet was later deleted.
