It has been three days since Telugu Desam Party official spokesman G Deepak Reddy became a laughing stock in the political and media circles by claiming during a debate on Republic TV channel that party general secretary and state IT minister Nara Lokesh is keenly monitoring the ongoing IndiGo Airlines crisis in the country.
Even after three days, Deepak Reddy continues to face heavy trolling on social media platforms, with netizens questioning how Lokesh, who is just a state minister and has nothing to do with the subject, can monitor the airlines crisis.
In fact, Republic TV CEO Arnab Goswami even pulled up the TDP spokesperson for trying to give credit to Lokesh, though it is matter which is connected to neither the state government nor TDP.
The IndiGo crisis, marked by the mass cancellation of thousands of flights over the past few days, has caused major hardship to passengers nationwide.
As public frustration grew, political parties weighed in with criticism of the Centre's handling of the situation.
In this context, Reddy attempted to highlight Lokesh’s “proactive leadership”, arguing that he was closely following the crisis. However, the statement backfired almost immediately.
Netizens on social media pointed out that Lokesh is presently in the US on a goodwill mission and there is no way he can practically oversee a major aviation disruption occurring in India, even if he wanted to.
Social media users are circulating memes and sarcastic posts questioning the “remote monitoring” narrative.
Critics accused the TDP of attempting to project relevance in a national issue that has little direct connection with the party’s current political remit.
Some pointed to the impracticality of monitoring an aviation operations crisis from abroad, while others mocked the remark as an unnecessary exaggeration.
The TDP has not officially commented on the trolling, and Lokesh, who is expected to return to India later this month, has not responded to the remarks attributed to him.
