New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday decided to probe the landing of the helicopter carrying Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in allegedly poor visibility conditions in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district on Monday evening.
Official sources told PTI that the statements of the two pilots of the helicopter and the district magistrate of Sitapur will be recorded in a couple of days.
Rahul earlier in the day sought to stave off a controversy that he had forced the pilot to land his helicopter in poor visibility conditions in Sitapur.
"I am a pilot and I am absolutely aware of the dangers of flying in low visibility conditions. I will be the last person to do it," he told a press conference in Lucknow.
Sitapur district magistrate Sanjay Kumar said the copter landed after sunset in poor visibility.
Meanwhile, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh sent a letter to the Central Home Ministry, complaining that Rahul violated security norms during his visits to the state.
"The state government has made it clear to the Centre that if Mr Rahul Gandhi continued to bypass and violate laid down security rules, then the Centre must not hold the state responsible in case there was any mishap," Mayawati's trusted aide and state's Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Contradicting the Congress leader's claim that he always believed in strictly adhering to all security norms, he said, "Since Mr Rahul Gandhi is covered by SPG there are certain norms which need to be observed, but it was a matter of deep concern for the state government that he has repeatedly violated these norms and rules."
According to Pandey, the state government had raised its concern with the Centre for the first time when the Congress General Secretary visited Kanpur in October 2008.
The state government has also objected to Gandhi's waving out to people in Etah and shaking hands with the crowds outside the security ring.
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