TDP MP Diwakar Reddy, banned by six airlines for unruly behaviour, says won't apologise; probe ordered

Visakhapatnam: JC Diwakar Reddy, the Telugu Desam Party lawmaker who has been banned by six airlines after he allegedly created a ruckus at the Visakhapatnam Airport yesterday after being denied a boarding pass for arriving late by IndiGo, has refused to apologise for his unruly behaviour.

Spicejet, GoAir, Jet Airways, Vistara airlines today joined Indigo and Air India to put the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP under no fly list for his unruly behaviour with a staffer at the Vishakhapatnam airport.

The move came after Indigo airlines approached the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) to ban Reddy from Jet Airways, Go Airlines, Spicejet and other members of the FIA.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today ordered an investigation into the Vizag incident involving the TDP MP. 

Reddy has, however, rebuffed the charges of creating ruckus at the Visakhapatnam airport and said he did not misbehave with any official of Indigo.

The TDP MP said that there were a number of people standing at the counter when he reached the airport, who had not been granted the boarding pass.

"I never abused... never slapped anyone... There is no need at all for me (to say sorry). There is no sorry at all," Reddy, 73, was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The TDP MP also categorically denied that he had lost his temper or assaulted anyone at the airport. Instead, he accused private airlines of fleecing passengers.

Diwakar Reddy is a Lok Saha MP from Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur constituency.

IndiGo, which initially refused to comment till it probed the incident, later said in a statement that Reddy was supposed to board a flight from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad at 8:10 am, but he reached only 28 minutes before the scheduled departure. 

According to aviation regulator norms, check-in counters for all domestic flights are supposed to close 45 minutes before departure.

A CCTV footage of the incident shows Reddy, who is from the same party as the Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathy Raju, arguing with airline officials, picking up a printer and then slamming it on the check-in desk, rushing behind a senior airline official and pushing him.

He is the second lawmaker to be grounded in three months; Shiv Sena's Ravindra Gaikwad who allegedly assaulted an Air India official was the first. 

The Gaikwad incident had prompted the government to come up with a no-fly list to bar abusive passengers. 

On March 23, the Air India registered two FIRs against Gaikwad for hitting an Air India staffer with his slipper over sitting issue and for forcibly holding the flight and delaying it for 40 minutes.