Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has hit back at YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy for claiming his government obstructed his visit to Tirumala. “He is spreading lies,” said Mr Naidu, adding no notices had been served to his predecessor blocking his temple visit. “Did anyone stop you from going? Show the notice if you have, to the media. Why are you spreading lies,” he lashed out.

Mr Reddy had said that all his party cadres and leaders were issued a notice that no permission had been given for the temple visit. His statement came after Mr Naidu’s TDP and its ally BJP demanded that Mr Reddy sign a declaration meant for non-Hindus before visiting the temple.

According to the rules of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which manages the popular temple, foreigners and non-Hindus should declare their reverence for the presiding deity at the hill shrine, Lord Venkateswara, before their visit. However, faith declaration signboards have recently sprung up in Tirumala.

Addressing a pressing conference, the Chief Minister scaled up his attack on Mr Reddy, deepening the row that was triggered by his claim that animal fat was used to make laddoos which are offered as ‘prasad’ at the shrine during the previous YSRCP regime.

“People in public life should follow the traditions and do what needs to be done. Every religion has certain traditions. If you want to visit a place of worship, you need to respect those traditions. No one is above those beliefs and traditions. No one should disrespect the traditions of the gods and beliefs of the devotees and you can’t act in a manner that is humiliating to both,” Mr Naidu said.

Mr Reddy defended his proposed visit without signing a declaration, saying everyone in the country knows his religion and that he had visited Tirumala temple several times even before becoming the Chief Minister. He said though he reads the Bible within four walls, he respects Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.

Pointing to the recent controversy sparked by his claim that the famed laddoos were made with adulterated ghee, Mr Naidu said, “Hindu sentiments have been hurt, and devotees are reportedly organising protests. If he visits Tirumala, these groups have indicated they will mobilize as well. Police are on duty to maintain peace and order. Why is he spreading false information on this issue? Every religion has traditions and principles that deserve respect.”

Last week, Mr Naidu alleged the use of substandard ghee and the presence of animal fat in the laddoos.

Mr Reddy retorted that Mr Naidu brought up the laddoo issue “to divert failures of his (Chandrababu Naidu) 100 days rule”. “To cover up his failures on the laddoo issue, he came up with the faith declaration issue. He intentionally planted seeds of doubts on the Laddu quality,” he said.

After its successful turnaround in 2015, SpiceJet is trying to pull off another comeback and its efforts have got a fillip with a successful fundraise of Rs 3,000 crore. The airline’s Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said the airline wants to quadruple its current planes in the air from 25 to its 2019 strength of 100 in the next two years. 

In an exclusive interview with NDTV Profit on Friday, Mr Singh also said 150 staff members who were sent on furlough last month will be back on the rolls as SpiceJet expands and that the airline has cleared the pending salaries of its employees as well as its GST dues.

To a question on what the airline’s priorities are with the Rs 3,000 crore it has raised, Mr Singh said, “The primary use of the raise is to increase capacity – from the current 25 aircraft back to 100 aircraft in the next two years. We were already a close-to-100 aircraft airline in 2019. Of course, another objective of the raise is to clean up the balance sheet and clear up what is due with our partners who are owed money primarily for the period when the aircraft were not flying during Covid and during the grounding of the MAX (Boeing 737 MAX) aircraft in 2019 and for three years thereupon.”

Stating that the idea is to have the space and the strength to scale up, Mr Singh pointed out that  India is a market that is “absolutely booming” and only 5-6 crore people fly in the country against a population of 140 crore. 

“SpiceJet knows how to do this. It has been an airline which has been around for 18-19 years and has flown with very high occupancy and a great deal of success. We brought about a turnaround in 2015 which was most unexpected and the envy of many. We feel that we are in a better position to bring about another turnaround here. SpiceJet already has all the experience and infrastructure to be a 100-aircraft airline,” he said.

Reviving Existing Aircraft

Mr Singh said Rs 800 crore from the fundraise has been earmarked for the revival of about 30 aircraft that are “sitting on the ground”. 

“Remember, aircraft are difficult to come by in the global aviation market at this point in time. SpiceJet has this great advantage that we have about 30 aircraft which are just sitting on the ground, which need some capital to put them back in the air. So that’s the first objective,” he said, adding that the plan is to be a 40-aircraft airline by next year and then target 100 aircraft. 

“People have said so many times that SpiceJet will not survive. This is an airline that refuses to die. We will not die and we will be a vibrant player in the Indian aviation space again,” he added.

Of the remaining amount, Rs 1,400 crore will go towards paying dues, Mr Singh said, adding that the pending salaries of all employees have already been cleared. 

Furloughed Employees

To a question on the 150 employees furloughed by SpiceJet last month, Mr Singh said they will be brought back as the airline expands.

“These are wonderful people who we have trained. By the way, SpiceJet was perhaps the only airline that actually kept the entire staff during Covid because we felt that they would have absolutely nowhere to go if we were to let them go. So we are very conscious of the fact that we need to get them back on the rolls as soon as possible. And as we scale up and we roll out this pretty ambitious plan, of course all the crew and all that staff has to come back,” he said. 

Secondary market

Mr Singh said the current fundraise will be enough to get to the plan of having 100 aircraft by 2026. He said the airline has taken some deliveries from Boeing and 35-40 planes will come from the secondary market. 

Asked about the market share that the airline is targeting, the SpiceJet CMD said that will come as the number of planes in operation increases. He also pointed out that SpiceJet had a market share of 20% in 2019. 

“But I think a healthy industry requires multiple players. The duopoly that exists today is perhaps not the best thing to happen either for consumers or the industry. And not just SpiceJet, I would wish other players the best as well and I hope that we can have multiple players in the system. We need to ensure that the industry remains healthy. And, for that, it’s important that we bring down the cost of regulation, in terms of the taxes that have been charged, the complexity of the system, et cetera,” he said. 

“We need to address those issues. And we need to address the issue that India has been one of the lowest yield markets, which has improved over the last two years. I think it’s important that airlines are going to be profitable so that they can use the profits towards the growth that the Indian market needs,” he added.

Mr Singh said SpiceJet sees a clear path to profitability because it has been spending a lot on its grounded fleet, and as those planes get back in the air, the fixed cost will come down.

“You will see profitability come quite quickly,” he asserted.