Lucknow, May 8 -- Piloted by former Union minister and BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a Delhi-Patna IndiGo flight (6E-6497) carrying 181 passengers and six crew members was diverted to Lucknow late Wednesday night after encountering severe weather and turbulence near the Bihar capital.

Rudy, who is also a trained commercial pilot and represents Bihar's Saran constituency in the Lok Sabha, reportedly made multiple attempts to land in Patna but aborted them due to unsafe weather conditions. The flight was initially considered for diversion to Varanasi, but after operational clearance could not be secured, the aircraft was finally diverted to Lucknow.

The aircraft landed safely at Lucknow airport at around 11pm on Wednesday and three passengers...