Shiv Sena MP Gaikwad takes chartered flight to Delhi

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad finally managed to board a flight! But not with any airlines. The Osmanabad MP was forced to take a charter flight from Pune to Delhi on Wednesday to attend the Parliament session. 

According to reports, Gaikwad flew to Delhi on a chartered plane from Pune airport on Wednesday at around 3pm and reached Delhi at 5pm. 

Gaikwad was blacklisted by several domestic airlines after he assaulted an Air India flight attendant with a sandal for being made to travel by economy class, instead of business. The incident, which occurred on March 23, caused a furore. 

However, unabashed Shiv Sena MP refused to apologise. Instead, he boasted of having hit the Air India official – duty manager R Sukumar – with his sandal “25 times”.

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In the days that followed, he tried to book tickets in various airlines – from Air India to SpiceJet and Indigo – but was rejected on every occasion. Even attempts to secure a ticket by misspelling his name went in vain.

The Centre maintained that it was within the airlines’ rights to reject a customer on grounds of misconduct.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena has thrown its weight behind their leader. The party is likely to raise the issue in Lok Sabha on Thursday and demand adjournment motion for the same. 

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