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Rabri's 'humiliation' makes Laloo angry

By K. Balchand

PATNA Aug. 23. The denial by authorities to allot a seat to the Bihar Chief Minister, Rabri Devi, in the front row of the Indian Airlines Delhi-Patna flight (IC-809) on Wednesday is snowballing into a controversy with the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal taking a serious view of the "maltreatment" and the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking to fight the political backlash.

According to Ms. Rabri Devi, she was asked to take a rear seat while two BJP leaders — the Union Minister, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and the former Minister, C. P. Thakur — were given front seats.

The RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, charged that the NDA and the BJP leaders were behind the "humiliation" of the Chief Minister. They had not only deprived her of her "rightful seat" but also forced her to take a rear seat. "They carried out the entire exercise deliberately to demoralise the Chief Minister. They tried to rebuke her finding her alone in the plane."

Mr. Yadav alleged that the incident was a "serious offence" perpetrated by the BJP using Dr. Thakur. He would complain to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, about the ``embarrassment and harassment" Ms. Rabri Devi had been subjected to. Wondering how anybody could "dare" to push a Chief Minister around, he said the two airline officials (a Deputy Manager and a Traffic Superintendent), suspended after an enquiry, were being made scapegoats.

Dr. Thakur, however, said that he had only taken the seat allotted to him and that his name was being dragged into the controversy unnecessarily. He blamed Ms. Rabri Devi's staff and security personnel for the suspension of the two officials. The Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, S. K. Modi, said that the RJD was raising a false issue with the motive of winning sympathy.

The Union Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain, meanwhile, admitted that the front seat (1D) had been allotted to Ms. Rabri Devi but a staff member, without consulting the Counter Manager, had released it to a confirmed passenger. He offered his regrets to her.

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