Sena MP threatens to sue AI, IndiGo

He has not got audience from party chief

Rattled by the royal snub of being put on the no-fly list for beating up a ground staffer, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad plans to sue the airline companies. So far, 56-year-old Gaikwad, a two-time MLA and first-time MP from Osmanabad, has not got an audience from Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

The Sena chief had refused to comment on the issue, however, senior Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Dr Manohar Joshi said, “We want to know what exactly has happened.” “I will take legal action against IndiGo and Air India for cancelling my confirmed tickets,” Gaikwad was quoted as saying on Sunday. The move to cancel his tickets came after Air India and Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), comprising private airliners IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Go Air, put him on no-fly list.

Not hiding
Gaikwad’s supporters said that he would be present in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and that he was not hiding. Last week, after the incident, he had sought probe into the issue and had made requests to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Civil Aviation Minister P A Gajapathi Raju.

Gaikwad on Sunday claimed that he was asked by a top party leader not to speak with the media over the issue, PTI reports from Osmanabad. “A senior Sena leader ordered me not to speak with media till Wednesday (March 29) and so I am not coming before the media. I will come to Omerga on Tuesday and celebrate the Marathi new year ‘Gudi Padwa’ with my family and Shiv Sainiks. I will then attend the Lok Sabha Session on Wednesday,” Gaikwad told PTI over phone.

“A senior Sena leader did not call me to ‘Matoshree’ (Thackeray residence in Mumbai) and hence I am not going there to meet senior party leaders,” he added.