Gaikwad issue echoes in LS; Sena threatens to boycott NDA meet

NEW DELHI: As Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on Thursday defended himself and apologised in the Lok Sabha for the assault on an airline staff, an ugly situation arose as two Union Ministers got involved in heated exchanges and almost came to blows.

Gaikwad’s party colleagues in the Lok Sabha demanded lifting of the flying ban against him and the party threatened to boycott an April 10 National Democratic Alliance meeting in case the matter was not sorted out at the earliest. Unhappy with the government response, Union Minister and Sena MP Anant Geete questioned how an attempt to murder charge could be slapped against Gaikwad.

Geete and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju almost came to blows as the latter maintained that flight safety was paramount.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani intervened to save the situation. As Shiv Sena MPs surrounded Raju, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs S S Ahluwalia rushed to his support.

Raju and Geete were subsequently taken to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s chamber where, sources said, the Speaker discussed the issue with them.

Earlier, Gaikwad — banned by various airlines from flying after he assaulted an Air India official with his footwear on March 23 after his PuneDelhi flight landed at the Delhi airport — raised the matter during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha.

He said he apologises for his behaviour in Parliament but will not do so to the 60-year-old flight official whom he allegedly beat up.

He also demanded lifting of the flying ban on him. Giving his version of the incident, Gaikwad said he was made to travel in economy class despite having a business class ticket.

After the Pune-Delhi flight landed, he said, he asked for the complaints register. “After 45 minutes, an officer came. I talked to him calmly, but he asked: Who are you? I asked him: Who are you? He said he is the ‘father of Air India’. When I said I am a politician, one of them said: ‘ But you are not Narendra Modi. Are you?,” said the Shiv Sena MP.

The MP alleged that the airline staff held him by the collar after which he pushed him. “I am staring at a ban across all airlines,” Gaikwad said and claimed that the charges against him were “unfounded” and should be taken back. “If the dignity of Parliament has been hurt, I apologise to Parliament, but not to the officer,” he said.