So Poor ..!!

I don't have money to pay your salary dues, Vijay Mallya tells Kingfisher staff

Kingfisher employees were expecting Vijaya Mallya to bring in funds from the proceeds of the United Spirits-Diageo deal.

MUMBAI: Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya on Friday told his agitating employees, who began a hunger strike, that he did not have money to clear their salary dues.

"I don't have the money to pay your salary dues, because I cannot use the proceeds from the United Spirits-Diageo deal for this due to an injunction from the Karnataka high court," Mallya reportedly told the striking employees.

The employees of the grounded airline have been on a hunger-strike since Thursday at the Kingfisher House here seeking salaries which have not been paid since last August.

                                                       EVEN THOUGH

Vijay Mallya: Colorful Owner of Force India F1 Team

While cynics of the paddock could not be blamed for seeing in Vijay Mallya yet another in a string of unlikely saviors of one of the sport's formerly most popular teams, it turned out that not only did Mallya's passion come from the heart, but there was a lot more to his latest purchase than self-gratification.

''The critical issue is: 'India on the F1 grid,' '' Mallya said after he bought the Spyker F1 teamand re-named it Force India. ''You will get 200 million fans overnight. It's humongous by world standards. It's good for Formula 1, it's good for the sport, it's good for the country.''