BJP, JD(U) to contest equal no of seats in Bihar: Shah

Bhopal, May 28: A Bhopal-based high net worth individual hired a 180-seater A320 plane of a private carrier to ferry four family members to New Delhi, in a bid to avoid crowd at the airport and in flight amid the COVID-19 outbreak, officials said on Thursday.

The person, who is a liquor baron, chartered the aircraft to send to Delhi his daughter, her two children and their maid, who were stuck in Bhopal since the last two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, sources said.

The plane arrived here from Delhi on Monday with crew only and flew back with just four passengers for whom it was specially hired, they said.

"The A320 180-seater plane arrived here on May 25 to carry four members of a family, probably due to the coronavirus scare. It was chartered by someone and there was no medical emergency, an airline official said, refusing to divulge any further details.

Bhopals Rajabhoj Airport Director Anil Vikram could not be contacted for comments.

According to aviation experts, the cost of hiring an Airbus-320 is about Rs 20 lakh.

Domestic commercial flight services resumed from Monday, after a nearly two-month break due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.

New Delhi, May 24: India witnessed the biggest ever spike of 6,767 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,31,868, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 147 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,867.
Out of the total number of cases, 73,560 are active and 54,440 have been cured/discharged and one migrated.

Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state with 47,190 COVID-19 cases. It is followed by Tamil Nadu (15,512), Gujarat (13,664), and Delhi (12,910).

The nationwide lockdown imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19 has been extended till May 31.

New Delhi, Jul 15: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that he is "not" joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I am not joining BJP," said Pilot in a telephonic conversation with ANI.

The comments came a day after he was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and Pradesh Congress Committee chief by the party.

The decision to sack Pilot was taken yesterday after a CLP meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

At the meeting, as many as 102 MLAs unanimously demanded that Pilot should be removed from the party.

The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While chief minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs, Pilot has been camping in Delhi.

A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after special operation group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the state.