As former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran took his seat in the front row on a Chennai-bound flight, the aircraft’s captain, wearing a mask, came calling on him.
"So you are travelling in this flight as well!", the Captain of the Indigo flight asked Maran, the DMK MP from Chennai (Central). The parliamentarian was clueless as to why the Captain was engaging him until he realised it was none other than his colleague Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Rudy, who is Lok Sabha MP from Saran Chapra in Bihar, has to fly a certain number of hours to retain his commercial flying license. The BJP leader flew the Delhi-Chennai flight on June 13 evening, and Maran took to social media to narrate the smooth transformation of Rudy from a “politician” to a pilot.
Maran said he could not recognise Rudy who was wearing a face mask, though his voice sounded familiar. “He looked at me and his eyes gave away the smile behind the mask. So you don’t recognize me, he exclaimed. I realized then that it was none other than my colleague, senior member of parliament, and former Union Minister- my very good friend Rajiv Pratap Rudy,” Maran wrote on his verified Twitter page.
A couple of hours ago before boarding the flight, Maran and Rudy had attended a meeting of the Estimates Committee of Parliament.
“I couldn't believe my eyes, seeing his transformation from a politician to a pilot. I was pleasantly surprised and told Rudyji that I couldn’t believe that he was going to be the captain flying us from Delhi to Chennai. He laughed and said, yes, I noticed that you didn't recognize me, I fly frequently,” Maran said.
The DMK leader also recalled his long association with Rudy, who served as a Minister of State (MoS) when his father Murasoli Maran was the Union Minister for Commerce.
“A flight to remember indeed! How often does a sitting Member of Parliament captain a commercial flight? I'm sure I will be talking about this for a long time. Thank you Captain Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MP for flying us safely from Delhi to Chennai,” Maran further wrote.
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