Lucknow: An Air India flight carrying Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi performed a go-around at Lucknow airport on Tuesday due to gusty winds before landing safely on its second attempt, sources told India Today.
Flight AI-1717, travelling from Delhi to Lucknow, aborted its first landing attempt around 3.45 pm after the crew assessed the weather conditions.
The aircraft landed safely about 10 minutes later, at 3.55 pm.
All passengers disembarked normally after the landing. Air India has not yet issued a statement on the incident.
Rahul was on his way to his Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli when the incident happened. He reached Rae Bareli by road from Lucknow.
Congress leaders and supporters lined the street as his convoy entered Rae Bareli around 6 pm. The MP got off his vehicle, collected some applications from the local leaders, greeted the party workers and departed for the guest house where he will stay the night.
According to sources, he held a meeting with some local traders later in the evening to discuss problems they are facing.
On Wednesday, Rahul will be present during a coordination meeting of the district before leaving for flood-affected parts of the constituency.
This is the first time that he will be directly interacting with villagers in those areas, as reported by Dainik Bhaskar.