Candidate Amit Mitra quits Air India board

New Delhi: FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra has resigned his position as an independent director of the Air India board of directors. Mitra is contesting the West Bengal assembly elections as a candidate of the Trinamool Congress party.

Mitra is understood to have sent in his resignation to civil aviation minister, Vayalar Ravi, in mid-March, just ahead of hitting the campaign trail, sources said.

Mitra, a top FICCI official and a well-known face on the media circuit espousing the cause of India Inc, is pitted against senior CPI-M leader and state finance minister Asim Dasgupta in the Khardaha assembly constituency in the 24 Parganas district.

Mitra's resignation comes hard on the heels of the resignation of Anand G Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group, from the Air India Board on grounds of "conflict of interest". That leaves the AI board short of two distinguished directors on its board.

Both Mitra and Mahindra were appointed to the board as independent directors a year ago, along with chairman of Ambuja Realty Development, Harsh Neotia, and former chief of Indian Air Force, air chief marshal Fali Homi Major, in a major face-lift exercise aimed at restoring some credibility to a badly struggling national carrier.

However, Mitra's resignation is yet to be accepted by the government, sources said.

Mahindra's resignation has been accepted by the government.