In the ongoing verbal duel between Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia over soaring air fares, Mr. Venugopal, in a fresh rebuttal late on Sunday, said “hard facts and everyday suffering of the middle class cannot be wished away by distorting figures and misrepresenting the actual facts on the ground,” in response to Mr. Scindia’s earlier comment calling him “ill-informed”.
In the latest, Mr. Venugopal, quoting the Delhi-Bengaluru flight rates, asked whether Mr. Scindia would defend the rates that ranged from ₹14,500 to ₹15,800. “This government has been incapable of curbing this price rise, preventing predatory behaviour on part of airlines, and has facilitated a loot at the hands of crony airport operators. That is the true picture of the aviation sector under PM Modi,” he tweeted.
The spat began with Mr. Venugopal’s jibe on Twitter on Saturday that the skyrocketing airfares has made Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that those wearing hawai chappals (rubber slippers) can travel on a “hawai jahaaz” (airplane) sound like a “cruel joke”.
