External affairs minister SM Krishna arrived in Bangalore from Dubai on Friday by a United Arab Emirates flight after his previous flight to New Delhi had to make an emergency landing in Karachi late on Thursday due to bad weather in the national capital.
“Krishna took Emirates flight EK-564 from Dubai at 3.30 am (local time) and arrived here at 9.10 IST. He is fine and resting,” his official adviser said.
Pakistan, which desperately wants foreign secretary Nirupama Rao to visit the country after the Sharm-el-Sheikh disaster, could not make much use of Krishna’s unplanned stop in Karachi. The plane refuelled in Karachi and no passenger was allowed to step out. The minister slept through the halt and the plane returned to Dubai.
Krishna, who was returning from Brazil after the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) meet, had taken the Emirates flight from Dubai to New Delhi. Bad weather conditions in Delhi forced the flight to divert to Karachi. Krishna later took the first flight available from Dubai to Bangalore.
Krishna was returning to India after curtailing his four-day official visit to Brasilia on hearing about the tragic death of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
“The original schedule was to reach Hyderabad from New Delhi on Friday morning to pay homage to the departed leader. Since the flight from Dubai to New Delhi could not land on Thursday night, Krishna flew to Bangalore, as there was no direct flight to Hyderabad from Dubai in the early hours,” the official said.
“We returned to Dubai around midnight (local time) and took the flight to Bangalore three hours later at 3.30 am as there was no direct flight to Hyderabad,” said the the official, who had accompanied Krishna.
Though Krishna was planning to rush to Pulivendala in Kadapa district for Reddy's last rites, inclement weather and rain in the Rayalaseema region prevented him from flying to the venue by a chopper.
“Bad roads and long distance (about 250 km) have prevented Krishna from going to Pulivendala by road in time for the last rites. Krishna plans to meet Reddy’s family at Kadapa or in Hyderabad Saturday,” Krishna’s official advisor said.
