Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, was appointed chairman of Air India on Monday. The news comes just a month after Mehmet Ilker Ayci, the former chairman of Turkish Airlines, declined an offer to lead Air India as managing director and CEO.
In October of last year, the $103 billion conglomerate won a bid to buy Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. It is expected to hire a new CEO soon. The Air India board approved Chandrasekaran's nomination last week, according to reports.
On March 1, Ayci turned down the Tata Sons offer, citing attempts by "certain sections of the Indian media" to "colour" his appointment in an unfavourable light.
Because of his former political ties, an RSS-backed group challenged his nomination. When Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was mayor of Istanbul in 1994, Ayci served as an adviser to him. Erdogan is a close supporter of Pakistan, and he has spoken out against the weakening of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Tata Sons board of directors re-appointed Chandrasekaran as executive chairman for another five years in February.
Tata Sons is the Tata group's main holding company, with Tata Trusts, led by Ratan Tata, owning about 66 percent of its shares.
