AIR India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav knew he had his plate full when he took over the task of turning around the national carrier. But little did he realize that he would face a vicious attack from his immediate predecessor, EK Bharat Bhushan – an Additional Secretary who was removed as CMD within weeks of joining. Now Air India’s Financial Adviser, nominated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Bhushan is working relentlessly at his single-point agenda of destabilizing Jadhav. Every Air India paper that goes to the Ministry is put into a spin – so much so that inertia now dogs the airlines and in two years it has not been able to put its turnaround plan on track. Worse, Bhushan’s mala fide intentions were bolstered by the then Secretary, Madhavan Nair.
The ouster from Air India of Praful Patel and Nair’s retirement did not help as Bhushan became the director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. His main preoccupation was briefing the media against the airlines’ minor lapses such as having one crew member less on a flight, pilots flying an hour more than allowed and so on. This bid to portray the airlines as unsafe was aimed at getting Jadhav. Lately, he has intensified his attack as he hopes to replace Jadhav with the latter facing criticism for Air India’s increasing losses.
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