NEW DELHI:

, BJP MP from

, had an altercation with

officials over her seating on a Delhi-Bhopal flight on Saturday, which delayed the take-off by 45 minutes.

Thakur, on wheelchair, booked seat 1A by paying extra for that. However,the Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft which was operating on this route has the front row earmarked for “emergency” seating. Passengers who cannot operate emergency exits due to any reasons are not allowed to sit on these seats and, accordingly, the airline requested Thakur to change her seat.

The flight took off 45 minutes behind schedule after Pragya Thakur finally relented and shifted to the second row.

While Upma Singh, a close aide of Thakur, blamed the airline over the episode saying that they had paid extra for the front row and that there was no bar specified against wheelchair passengers occupying the front row, the spokesman of SpiceJet defended their action pleading that Pragya Thakur had brought her own wheelchair and that they were not aware of her condition when they allocated her the front row at extra charge.

Upma Singh said: “We paid extra while booking the flight for the front row. It was not specified anywhere that a person on wheelchair cannot occupy the front row. The sadhvi (Pragya Thakur) has a health problem and needs extra legroom which the front row offers.”