Rajeev Chandrasekhar hits out at Air India after Shivraj Singh’s ‘broken seat’ complaint, urges Tata Group to act

Chandrasekhar pressed the Tata Group for urgent reforms, warning that inaction could lead to intervention from the government and regulatory authorities

Shortly after agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan slammed Tata Group-owned Air India over the discomfort he experienced, BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar raised concerns over the airline’s service quality.

Chandrasekhar took to X to question the service standards of Air India after its takeover by the Tata Group. “If it was anyone else other than the polite, gentleman minister @ChouhanShivraj ji, person would have created a justified angry response to this kind of incident,” he wrote.

“Tatas takeover of @airindia has created a situation of reducing competition and consumer choice in full service airlines - which leads to complacency and chalta hai!” Chandrasekhar added further.

He pressed the Tata Group for urgent reforms, warning that inaction could lead to intervention from the government and regulatory authorities.

"Suggest @TataCompanies address this warpspeed - else regulator/Govt will need to start looking at consumer interest as a regulatory outcome in addition to safety," the former union minister added.

Earlier today, Chouhan was assigned a broken seat that had ‘sunk in,’ leading him to voice his concerns about Air India’s services on X.

Sharing his experience, he wrote, "Today I had to come from Bhopal to Delhi, inaugurate the Kisan Mela in Pusa, hold a meeting of the Natural Farming Mission in Kurukshetra, and discuss with the representatives of the Kisan Organisation in Chandigarh. I had booked a ticket on Air India flight number AI436, I was allotted seat number 8C. I went and sat on the seat, the seat was broken and sunken in. It was uncomfortable to sit.”

He also questioned Air India's management, saying, "When I asked the airline staff why the seat was allotted to me if it was bad, they told me that the management had been informed earlier that this seat was not good and its ticket should not be sold. There is not just one seat but many more."

After Chouhan shared his experience, Air India apologised for the "inconvenience", and ordered a "thorough" probe into the incident.