Is Gopinath patching up with Mallya?

Mumbai: Just a few days ago, Air Deccan CEO Capt G Gopinath attacked Vijay Mallya for his comments on wanting to buy the former's business. On Wednesday night, clad in a white kurta, Gopinath seemed to have quickly forgotten everything.
He got on the stage during the second anniversary celebrations of Kingfisher Airlines and hugged Mallya, taking the audience by surprise. Gopinath then went on to give a 15-minute speech calling Mallya's airline an 'an extraordinary product'. "Our airlines complement each other," Gopinath said.
A few days back, after Mallya commented about his interest in buying Air Deccan, Capt Gopinath had gone ballistic over the matter. "We are not for sale....We are three times bigger (than Kingfisher) in routes and operations. He may want to buy the moon, but the moon is not up for sale," Gopinath said. "He (Mallya) must restrict himself to running his own airline rather than talking about Air Deccan," he said. Then the oft-repeated one: "We are from different planets; he is from Venus, I am from Mars".
On Wednesday though, Capt Gopinath in his speech did a volte face and said men and women maybe from Mars and Venus respectively, but "they get into bed together, though they fight." He added: "Somebody said politics is the art of the possible, we say business is the art of possible too, not that we are looking at getting into bed."
But it was the closing words that took the cake: "I wish Vijay that sooner or later, he becomes the largest airline in the full service segment."
11/05/07 Times of India

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Categories: Air Deccan May 2007, Kingfisher May 2007