"Air India has lost about Rs 30,000 crore. Why don't you hold the people who manage (it) accountable for Air India losses like you hold Vijay Mallya (accountable for losses in Kingfisher Airlines)?" Pai, former Chief Financial Officer and HR Head of the Bengaluru-based software major, told PTI.
"Everybody is going after Vijay Mallya. (But) a government entity making (AI) losses is okay...Is it? Parliament is sitting quietly and does not talk about it. Media will sit quietly and nobody will talk about it...Holding nobody accountable. What is this? It's hypocrisy. Both are of the same character and both are wrong," he said.
One can blame Mallya of mismanagement for business losses, but now it's in his interest to come back to India and strike a deal with banks by paying back as much as possible because he is "not going to win this battle of delaying payment and going to courts", said Pai, currently Chairman of venture capital firm Aarin Capital and Manipal Education.
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He said while people understand business loss, they would get angry "if you lead a luxurious life, flaunt your wealth when you have not paid your employees, banks..."
Pai opined that government should not arrest Mallya and must ask him to come and settle the dues with the banks.
"Government should not arrest him. Government should tell him to come and settle. It's in his interest and government's interest to settle. Putting money laundering charges takes it to a different level, and to my mind it's unnecessary. Not good for him, not good for anybody," he said.
Businessmen having outstanding loans love banks going to courts because they can prolong the case for 10-15 years without any resolution, he said, adding, "Dilatory practices in courts are the worst enemy of banks."
Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged loan defaults by his group to the tune of over Rs 9,000 crore, had left India on March 2 kicking up a row, but has said that he is not an absconder and will comply with the law of the land.