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MLAs struggle to reach Nagpur for Winter Session amid Indigo crisis

Some take chartered flight, others likely to miss first day of session

2 min readPuneDec 7, 2025 09:05 PM IST

Despite the improvement, the ground reality is not getting any better as many passengers in Mumbai continue to face long delays, repeated rescheduling, and persistent baggage issues.

MLAs from Pune district heading for the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Assembly scheduled to begin in Nagpur from Monday found themselves stranded at the Pune airport on Sunday as flight disruptions caused by Indigo entered its fifth day.

While a few of them managed to hop on to a chartered flight to reach Nagpur a day before the session begins, others are like to miss the first day of the session.

”We reached Nagpur this (Sunday) afternoon by a special chartered flight from Pune,” BJP’s Shivajinagar MLA Siddharth Shirole told The Indian Express. The special chartered flight was arranged by senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil. ”One Minister and two MLAs were from Pune district while the fourth one was from Sangli,” said Shirole.

Other MLAs said they are finding it difficult to make it to Nagpur on time. “Tomorrow, there is a marriage in my family. I had booked a flight ticket for Tuesday but it has not been confirmed. It looks like I have to go to Mumbai and from there, to Nagpur. Even train tickets are not available,” said BJP MLA from Chinchwad Shankar Jagtap.

Mahesh Landge, an MLA from Bhosari constituency, said, ”I am planning to go tonight by road or may go on Tuesday. I will have to use my own personal vehicle as neither flight nor train tickets are available.”

Member of Legislative Council Uma Khapre said, ”My flight has been cancelled. I will be going to Nagpur by train tomorrow, which means I will be missing out the first day of the winter session.”

Pimpri MLA Anna Bansode, who is the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, left Pimpri-Chinchwad by road around 4pm on Sunday. He will be reaching Nagpur Monday morning, said his close associate Satish Landge.

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A BJP leader in Pimpri-Chinchwad said, ”It is not easy to travel from Pune to Nagpur by road, especially during night time. The Samruddhi expressway is not an ideal road to travel at night. MLAs will have to take extra care to reach Nagpur for the Winter Session.”

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