CM takes taxi at airport as official car gets late

 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 3:  In a security lapse, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy took a taxi from airport here to the secretariat after his official vehicle failed to reach there in time on his return from Delhi.

Chandy hailed a taxi after a nearly five-minute wait at the airport yesterday as he had to attend an urgent meeting, prompting the state Home Department to look into the “lapse”, official sources said.

The Chief Minister, however, played down the incident insisting that there was no security lapse involved.

Taking a light view of the fiasco, Chandy said that yesterday in Delhi also, he had travelled by a taxi to the airport from Kerala House after campaigning for the Congress for the assembly polls.

The sources said the Home Department was looking into how such a lapse occurred and who were responsible for it.

Chandy’s flight had landed here at 10.15 AM, a few minutes ahead of the schedule. When it was found that the official car had not reached the airport, he directed police to hail a taxi instead of waiting for the official car.

Police said Chandy was accompanied by the usual security convoy which had already been stationed at the airport. (PTI)