A massive disruption in IndiGo Airlines’ operations, which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights nationwide over the past several days, has been the big debate in the media and surprisingly, it also snowballed into a political controversy involving Telugu Desam Party general secretary and Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh.
The other day, Republic TV aired a high-voltage debate on the ongoing IndiGo crisis, moderated by the channel’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
Representing the TDP in the discussion was former MLC and current chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Employment Generation and Enterprise Development Society, Deepak Reddy.
During the debate, Arnab Goswami launched a sharp attack on the Central government, accusing it of compromising passenger safety and “succumbing to blackmail” by IndiGo Airlines.
He alleged that despite granting a two-year window to implement Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations for crew rostering, the Centre had again provided relaxations under pressure from the airline.
As the debate progressed, Arnab turned to Deepak Reddy for his party’s response. Reddy, while commenting on the crisis, remarked that Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh was “reviewing the situation” and that an “emergency war room” had been set up.
This remark triggered a volley of pointed questions from Arnab, who repeatedly asked under what authority Lokesh was monitoring a national aviation crisis.
“How can a state minister monitor a nationwide civil aviation issue? What is his official role here? He is not the Union Civil Aviation Minister,” Arnab countered, questioning the political and administrative relevance of Lokesh’s involvement.
Pressed further, Deepak Reddy clarified that the Prime Minister’s Office was monitoring the situation and that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had established a 24x7 emergency war room.
He added that Lokesh was also following the developments “to help streamline the situation,” a justification that the anchor challenged again.
“How does your party come into this? This is a Central government aviation matter, not a TDP ministry,” Arnab insisted, asking whether this was a civil aviation war room or a TDP-run mechanism.
In his defence, Deepak Reddy said the matter was not political but related to public hardship.
However, when he mentioned that a committee had been constituted to examine the causes of the crisis and that IndiGo, being a private airline, operated as per its own commercial strategy, Arnab countered that such statements were inappropriate coming from a party that is part of the ruling dispensation.
The video of the exchange has since gone viral across WhatsApp groups, prompting internal criticism within TDP circles.
Party leaders privately admit that Reddy’s attempt to “elevate” Nara Lokesh’s image backfired and exposed the party to ridicule at the national level.
Some leaders also feel that the remarks inadvertently undercut the authority of Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who hails from the TDP and is responsible for handling the crisis.
Senior TDP leaders reportedly view the incident as an avoidable embarrassment, arguing that a matter entirely unrelated to Lokesh or the state government was unnecessarily dragged into the national spotlight, giving political opponents fresh ammunition.