BJP MP’s ‘ruckus’ over economy class seat delays Air India flight

Five months after Shiv Sena leader Ravinda Gaikwad assaulted an Air India staffer for being forced to travel economy, a fellow parliamentarian reportedly raised a ruckus for the same reason at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj airport on Tuesday morning.

Airline sources said Bhagirath Prasad, the BJP MP from Bhind, was furious about being allotted a seat in the flight’s economy section despite having booked a business class ticket. Though airline staffers fulfilled his request as soon as they could, the Delhi-bound flight was reportedly able to take wing only by 8.30am – fifteen minutes after its scheduled departure time.

Prasad, however, denied causing a commotion. “All I did was raise the issue as a passenger,” he told HT over the phone. “Don’t I have the right to ask why an economy class boarding pass was given to me on a business class ticket?” He also rejected reports that the flight was delayed. “There was no unpleasant situation. Resolving the issue took barely a minute.”

The MP said he wasn’t aware who had made the mistake, but he considered the matter closed after the Air India agent apologised to him.

Vishrut Acharya, area manager (MP&CG) of the airline carrier, also claimed that it was a minor incident that soon found an amicable resolution. “We all know the MP. We treated him with respect, and provided him with the business class seat he was entitled to,” he said, adding no other passenger had to be accommodated for the purpose.

On March 23, Shiv Sena MP Gaikwad repeatedly hit a 60-year-old Air India duty manager with a slipper, and later boasted about it, after being refused a business class ticket on a Pune-New Delhi flight. Several airlines imposed a “no-fly” ban on him in the following months.