Unruly scenes were witnessed in Parliament on Thursday when Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju was heckled by Shiv Sena MPs over the flying ban imposed by airlines on party leader Ravindra Gaikwad. Raju had informed the House that the government will not intervene in the issue and will allow the law to take its own course.
Despite that, it seems that the MP will be allowed to fly on airlines soon. As per a report in NDTV, the ban imposed on Gaikwad is likely to be lifted by Thursday evening.
Giving his defence in Parliament, Gaikwad had played the victim card saying that he did not misbehave with the Air India manager on board a flight. However, he apologised to the House but not to Air India. “I apologise to Parliament, but not to him.”
#WATCH: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad evades questions on Air India staffer assault case. pic.twitter.com/BrLVahGqdR
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2017
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has said that the party will not attend the April 10 meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meet if the issue regarding Gaikwad is not resolved.
Meanwhile, the Sena MPs have warned of grounding Air India operations at the two the Pune and Mumbai airports after the party failed to get an assurance from Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in Parliament over the lifting of the flying ban on Gaikwad. Thereafter, the Air India is likely to step up security of its staff at the two key Maharashtra airports.
“We are enhancing the security of our staff deployed at Mumbai and Delhi Airport in the wake of threat to ground flight operations at these aerodromes,” an Air India source said.
The move is also being taken because some of the Air India employees’ unions at Mumbai and Pune airports are affiliated to Shiv Sena’s trade union Bharatiya Kamgar Sangh.
