Bangalore, March 31 : The budget airline pioneer who enabled the ordinary Indian to fly is now banking on the common man for a flight into Parliament.

Captain G.R. Gopinath, whose low-cost carrier Air Deccan revolutionised Indian domestic aviation, today announced plans to fight the Lok Sabha elections. He will be contesting as an Independent from Bangalore, aiming to work without a community bias and to inspire the youth.

Gopinath plans to campaign through a website and blogs, enlist the help of students and get volunteers from companies.

“None of the political parties today reflects the aspirations of the new, resurgent India,” he told a news conference by the poolside in his bungalow in Bangalore’s Vittal Mallya Road.

He said his decision to contest was prompted by his pain at the Mumbai terror attacks and “moral policing” in Karnataka, and was backed by his family and friends such as Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Ltd.

“We need a larger participation of those who are fortunate,” he said.

Gopinath has lost an Assembly election before — as BJP candidate from Gandsi in Hassan district in 1994 when the party was still a fledgling outfit in the state.

Air Deccan was merged with Kingfisher Airlines last year, and Gopinath’s neighbour Vijay Mallya now heads the company. Gopinath is the new airline’s vice-chairman and non-executive director.

Mallya himself was a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka till last year.

Gopinath, a former army captain, is a serial entrepreneur, his ventures including a silk farm in Karnataka’s Hassan district and a helicopter charter service. He plans to launch his new company, Deccan Express Logistics, on May 4.

He said he would consult friends before choosing one of the four constituencies in Bangalore. The four seats could see intense competition with former chief ministers S.M. Krishna and H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar, and former MPs Jaffer Sharief and H.T. Sangliana likely contenders from some of them.

While the BJP has selected Ananth Kumar and P.C. Mohan for Bangalore South and Bangalore Central, the Congress and the Dal (Secular) are yet to name their candidates.

“Maybe it would have been easier for me to win an election through a political party, but I felt I would not be able to express my views because democracy in a party works differently,” Gopinath said. “I know it is not easy to win; maybe the chances of losing are more.”