The BJP has flown into turbulence in poll season in Karnataka over its youth wing president Tejasvi Surya’s name being linked to the unauthorised opening of an emergency door of an IndiGo aircraft on the tarmac in Chennai last month.

Although IndiGo has not identified the passenger and the BJP had been keeping quiet about the incident that occurred on December 10, civil avidation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia broke the silence on Wednesday to confirm that the party’s Bangalore South MP was to blame.

“When the incident happened, Tejasvi Surya ji himself reported that incident, based on which the full protocol was followed as DGCA itself has investigated and enunciated. The full protocol was followed and pressurisation was checked, all the other checks were in place and only then (did) the aircraft take off. I think he himself apologised,” Scindia was quoted as saying by PTI.

The Opposition and the BJP’s critics had been questioning the party over the incident on an ATR turboprop narrow-body aircraft, which led to a two-hour delay in the departure of the Chennai-Tiruchirapalli flight.

On Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation launched a probe since emergency doors are to be opened by passengers only at the instruction of the cabin crew. The airline only stated that a passenger “accidentally” opened the emergency door.

“A passenger travelling on Flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on Dec 10, 2022, accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. The passenger immediately apologised for their action. As per SOPs, the incident was logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight’s departure,” IndiGo said in a statement shared with this newspaper.

The 10.05am flight finally took off at 12.17pm. The matter received a lot of traction on social media where leaders of Opposition parties and critics questioned why the person responsible had not been booked.

Congress MLA from Karnataka and chairperson of the state unit’s communications wing, Priyank Kharge, questioned the lack of action against Surya, assuming he was the one who opened the door. “Why is @ IndiGo6E so hesitant to name the passenger? Why didn’t they report to DGCA?”

Entrepreneur Mohan Kumaramangalam questioned the rationale behind the airline describing the act as accidental. “How does one accidentally open the emergency exit door @Tejasvi_Surya.... Involuntary spasm? Sleepwalking?” He shared a video clip of a demonstration of how an emergency door is opened. Many others shared such videos, which show that the handle to be pulled is located right on top of the door frame, necessitating a person to outstretch their hand.