Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad says he won’t apologise for Air India flight fracas

Gaikwad kicked up a storm of criticism on Thursday after he allegedly hit a 60-year-old Air India staffer 25 times with slippers in a burst of fury over being denied business class seats.

Shiv Sena parliamentarian Ravindra Gaikwad, who has drawn flak for assaulting an Air India staffer, said on Friday that he will not apologise even as the national carrier was considering a ban on him.

The 56-year-old Gaikwad is no stranger to controversy and has charges of voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and criminal intimidation against him. (ANI/Twitter)

“It was not my fault, it (the AI employee) was his fault. He should apologise. First ask him to apologise then we will see,” Gaikwad, 56, told mediapersons in Delhi.

Gaikwad kicked up a storm of criticism on Thursday after he allegedly hit a 60-year-old Air India staffer 25 times with slippers in a burst of fury over being denied business class seats.

The MP from Maharashtra’s Osmanabad also downplayed reports suggesting that Air India was considering putting him on a ‘no-fly’ list.

“I have the tickets...they can’t blacklist me. I will board the Delhi-Pune Air India flight this evening. How can they not allow me?” he said.

“Let the Delhi Police arrest me. Uddhavji will decide the course of action,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has sought a report to determine the facts before he decides on what happens next for Gaikwad.

Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan said: “The incident happened outside Parliament...so we will ascertain details and act on any complaint.”

Meanwhile, a senior official from the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an umbrella body of four domestic carriers, denied media reports that it had barred Gaikwad from flying.