Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam in Mehsana district in a seaplane on the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly polls.
Modi boarded the single-engine seaplane from the Sardar Bridge connecting the old city with Ahmedabad West. A special jetty was constructed to facilitate the boarding for the prime minister.
While PM Modi describes the flight as an exercise to “promote Gujarat tourism”, the seaplane stunt faced heat from the Opposition.
Other than the flight path and origins of the plane, there were few other questions raised by the Opposition:
Soon after the flight, the leader of opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly said that several security norms were being breached.
Congress President-Elect Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 12 December, saying his “seaplane is a mere distraction from the real issues faced by Gujarat.”
Following few claims that this is the first seaplane in India, several opposition leaders were quick to point out that seaplane services were inaugurated in Andaman and Nicobar in 2010.
The Karachi Connect
A Twitter user @kapsology pointed out that the seaplane was in Karachi, Pakistan few days before PM took the flight.
A quick search on the aircraft’s flight history shows that it was "near Karachi" on 3 December before flying into Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji airport at 7:45 pm that evening.
The seaplane that PM Modi flew in a Kodiak 100 N181KQ built by the Quest Aircraft, a Japanese owned plane-maker based in Idaho, United States.
While, the government and opposition had a go at each other over the seaplane fiasco, tweeple had a humorous take on it.
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