Minister sacked for mid-air flirting

Minister sacked for mid-air flirting

BOMBAY (Reuter): The chief minister of India's Haryana state sacked a member of his cabinet saying the minister had misbehaved with an air hostess on a flight from the tourist resort of Goa, Indian newspapers reported yesterday.

The Asian Age quoted Chief Minister Bhajan Lal as saying Technical Education Minister Chhattarpal Singh had been dismissed on Monday after the incident was confirmed by two senior members of their Congress party, traveling on the same flight on May 30.

No details were given of what the minister was alleged to have done on the Goa to New Delhi flight beyond saying he had made advances on the air hostess.

Singh, denying the charge, said the issue was cooked up to force him out of the cabinet because of differences with the chief minister.

"If any woman, that too an air hostess, can vouch that I have behaved in an indecent manner ever, I will quit the assembly as well as public life," he said in a statement.