BJP leaders were using jet owned by 2G scam accused?

The flight carrying senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders which developed a mysterious snag in New Delhi on Monday was reportedly registered with a subsidiary of the DB group, owned by Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, whose alleged role in the 2G spectrum is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Both are currently out on bail after spending a few months in jail.

The flight carrying senior BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan was forced to return to base after it had developed a technical snag. The three leaders were flying to Bangalore from New Delhi to address a mammoth rally ahead of the party’s campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections.

The Challenger CL 604 aircraft is reportedly owned by Eon Aviation Pvt Ltd which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DB Group. The company has two corporate jets (the 8+3 seater Challenger, 11+3 Global 500) and two executive helicopters (Sikorsky and Eurocopter).

The Challenger is a luxury aircraft with a host of facilities that range from onboard internet, teleconferencing and facsimile facility among others.

The BJP however does not attribute much to this issue.

Senior BJP leaders from Karnataka when asked to comment on the issue said that there is no point in reading too much into the issue. “We are happy are leaders are safe. There has been no setback to the campaign due to their absence. They will come down again and assist the party to win in Karnataka once again,” a BJP leader said.

Rediff.com's attempts to contact Sudanshu Trivedi, the newly-appointed spokesperson to BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Shahnawaz Hussain in New Delhi were in vain.