India's Hindu nationalists urge government to reject new Air India CEO

Turkish Airlines (THY) Chairman Ilker Ayci speaks to the media following an event in Istanbul, Turkey January 12, 2022. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/Files

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Hindu nationalist group close to India's ruling party is calling on the government to block the appointment of Ilker Ayci as chief executive of Air India, citing his previous political links in Turkey, with which New Delhi has strained relations.

The call from the economic wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, comes as government agencies carry out what one government official said were more intensive than usual background checks on Ayci, who was an adviser in 1994 to Tayyip Erdogan, when the Turkish president was mayor of Istanbul.