Union Minister KJ Alphons gets an earful from a distressed mourner at Imphal airport

New Delhi: A female doctor lashed out heavily at Union Minister State for Electronics and Information Technology, Culture, and Tourism KJ Alphons Kannanthanam at Imphal airport for her flight being delayed because of his arrival there. The distressed woman was apparently on her way to Patna to attend a funeral of her close relative but her flight got postponed for which she held the Tourism Minister responsible and gave him an earful. The doctor expressed her annoyance over Alphons' staff too who were trying to calm down the matter. “I was supposed to leave at 2.45. I have left my job without giving any application. The body will degrade and it will smell. The body is still is still at my home. I know because I’m a doctor,” the woman yelled. In the video, the minister is hear assuring her that he flight  will take off after his. But she demands an assurance from him in writing to which the Tourism Minister responds saying, “I have no authority over this.” Clarifying his stance on the incident, Alphons told news agency ANI,"I don't think there is any controversy at all. I saw this lady in distress & I went up to talk to her, she said she has to attend a funeral in Patna, I told her that there is a protocol when President is landing no flight can take off." Alphons said he did not mind that the woman expressed her anger on him. "Apart from Prime Minister & President there is no protocol for any minister. She (woman in video) had to talk to someone, It is fine with me that she vented her anger on me," he added. Who is KJ Alphons Kannanthanam? Alphons, a 1979 batch IAS officer, entered politics by becoming an independent MLA backed by the CPI(M) in Kerala in 2006. He joined the BJP in 2011. Immediately after taking up the tourism minister portfolio,  Kannanthanam stoked controversy couple of months ago saying if a BJP-ruled state like Goa was eating beef, there should be no problem in Kerela. Kerala is among eight states where there are no restrictions on cow slaughter.