By IANS,
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was embarrassed when journalists prevented from speaking to party leader Sushma Swaraj at the airport boycotted a function addressed by her here Friday evening.
The media walked out from the venue near the Mumbai Airport after they were denied an opportunity to talk to Sushma Swaraj on her first, although private, visit to Mumbai after being named leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Journalists at the airport wanted Sushma Swaraj to speak to them first as they had been waiting for her for hours. She was ready to oblige.
But Mumbai BJP chief Gopal Shetty insisted that she would first address party workers who had assembled there. Some supporters of Shetty virtually surrounded Sushma Swaraj and foiled a media interaction.
Irritated, some of the media persons got into a row with the organisers and trooped out of the venue.
A city BJP leader told IANS: “It would have done good for the party’s image if the media had been allowed to interact with her for some minutes. The final outcome was avoidable.”