Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was
never known for his parliamentary prowess. Far from bringing fame to
his constituency Osmanabad – one of the most backward districts in
Maharashtra, he has brought disrepute for it. Incidentally, he is the
second MP from Osmanabad to find himself in the soup. His predecessor
and Nationalist Congress leader Padmasinh Patil was charged as
conspirator of the murder of his cousin.
With the latest episode, Gaikwad
has invited embarrassment for himself as well as his party Shiv Sena.
The estranged ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party is already cornered
with its recent failure to stop BJP's juggernaut in Mumbai Municipal
Corporation election. It is also at odds with the BJP-led state
government even after being a part of it. Shiv Sena has tried to take
higher moral ground on issues like farmers' suicide and noteban.
Gaikwad's ill tempered and ill timed misadventure has forced Shiv
Sena to go on defensive.
The Delhi Police today registered
an FIR against Gaikwad for assaulting an Air India staffer and
transferred the case to its Crime Branch. Delhi Police chief
spokesperson and special commissioner (operations) Dependra Pathak
said a case has been registered under sections 308 (attempt to commit
culpable homicide), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to
dishonour person) of IPC. He said the case is being transfered to
Crime Branch for a thorough probe.
Gaikwad hit 60-year-old duty
manager, R Sukumar 25 times with his sandal when the official
persuaded him to disembark after the plane landed at the IGI airport,
New-Delhi from Pune. The entire episode has been captured on mobile
and is going viral.
The MP refused to alight, holding
up the aircraft for over 40 minutes yesterday. Police received two
complaints in this regard- one from Air India and the other from
Sukumar. What is worse, Gaikwad bragged on camera that he hit the AI
employee.The incident took place on Thursday morning inside Air
India's Pune- Delhi flight AI 852, when the aircraft landed in Delhi.
Mr Gaikwad refused to disembark despite attempts of persuading him to
do so. An Air India official also tried to pacify the MP, who
vociferously complained about the morning flight to Delhi from Pune,
not having business class.
Seven airlines including state
owned AIR India have barred MP Gaikwad from flying. The Federation of
Indian Airlines, which has Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet, AirAsia and
GoAir as its members has decided to blacklist Gaikwad who admitted to
his unruly behaviour with Air Indian staffer. The IndiGo even went
ahead to cancel his ticket from Delhi to Pune scheduled today.
Taking serious note of Gaikwad’s
behavior Shiv Sena has asked him to give an explanation over the
issue. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray also sought AI’s version over
the incident. Speaking to media in Mumbai yesterday, Shiv Sena
Spokesperson Manisha Kayande stated that the party does not subscribe
to any such reaction while MP Sanjay Raut, who is always on forefront
in criticizing the BJP said that manhandling government employees
cannot be party's program.
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