New Delhi, January 24
BJP spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Pratap Rudy is the first MP who has turned a commercial pilot and that too at a ripe age of 47.

There have been earlier instances of pilots turning to politics and entering Parliament. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was the most illustrative example followed by his buddy and one-time co-pilot Satish Sharma. The duo used to fly Indian Airlines planes before they decided to don the neta’s mantle. The late Rajesh Pilot was also a pilot who changed course mid air and landed in the Lok Sabha. Pilot was in the Indian Air Force.

But Rudy is turning the wheel the other way round. The man, whose Rajya Sabha term comes to an end in another six months, is already flying passengers, albeit occasionally, between Delhi and Mumbai on Indigo flights. Once his term comes to an end in the Rajya Sabha one may hear his voice more frequently from the captain’s cockpit.

Rudy admits that he deliberately avoided publicising the entire thing. “I kept it under wraps because I didn’t know how people would react,” he says, adding that he did inform party’s senior leaders like LK Advani, Sushmaj Swaraj and Rajnath Singh, who all were very encouraging and gave him a go-ahead to take the plunge.

“It all started way back in 1978-81 when I was a student in Chandigarh . I was so keen on learning to fly that every morning I used to cycle down from my hostel to the Chandigarh bus stand, take a bus to Patiala and from there take another bus to go to the Patiala Flying Club. I had just put in 17-18 hours of flying when the Pushpak aircraft of the club was hit by an IAF chopper and the club was closed as a result of the controversy.”

After that Rudy left Chandigarh to return to his native place in Bihar. In 1990, he became a Janata Dal MLA with Lalu Prasad Yadav as the CM. “The Patna Flying Club was under the CM’s purview and I tried to persuade him to let me take care of it and also learn flying there. But Lalu Prasad paid no heed. Then I came to Lok Sabha in 1996 and again in 1998 and 1999. I first became a Commerce Minister and then handled the Civil Aviation Ministry. However, I could not find time to pursue my passion,” says Rudy.

Once the NDA government, led by Nitish Kumar, assumed power, Rudy prevailed upon Nitish to allow him to set things in order at the Patna Flying Club. “On February 7, 2006, I started flying again and on October 30, 2007, I obtained my pilot’s licence,” says the MP.