Tamil Nadu: Blow for Karunanidhi family's business interests?

Tamil Nadu: Blow for Karunanidhi family's business interests?

Thursday’s state election results are likely to make the fortunes for some businesses and mar for some others. The biggest and most prominent loser of the day was from the family of DMK chief M Karunanidhi. On the day of the results, the Sun TV stock lost Rs 2,229 crore in market value. Its market capitalisation fell from Rs 16,845 crore at its close on Thursday to Rs 14,616 crore at the end of the day. By virtue of his 75 per cent holding, DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s grandnephew Kalanithi Maran would take three-fourths of that hit.

This notional loss could be an indicator of the bad news in store for the family’s business interests that extend beyond media. While Maran was among the first in the family to get into organised business through his venture into broadcast media in the early 1990s, there were others who have followed in his footsteps. After a brief break-up in relations with the Marans, Karunanidhi’s immediate family members floated Kalaignar TV in 2007. At the time Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal owned 60 per cent, while his daughter Kanimozhi owned 20 per cent. Karunanidhi’s grandsons, from his sons Stalin and Azhagiri have also built interests in a range of businesses from real estate to movies to granite mining.

The management of Sun TV has often maintained that its business is independent of the government in power, but the market seems to be understanding it differently. A second term of the AIADMK could prove to be tougher for the family as it does not have the cushion of a friendly regime at the Centre. Read more.

Assembly Elections 2016 India - Latest News, Results, Updates, Photos

Election campaigns in the southern states have a different flavour, but what adds even more colour are the live translations of speeches that leaders from other states make. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been at the receiving end of poor translations twice in the past.

In December 2015 at Thrissur, the PM tried apologizing to the gathered public for arriving late but the translator, K Surendran, the BJP general secretary in Kerala, translated it to something else sending the others present on the dias in a tizzy.

“First of all I have to apologize to the people here in Kerala because I am late in coming here. I should have come sooner. But now, I promise that this will not happen,” said the Prime Minister but the BJP general secretary translated it in Malayalam as, "I am very happy to arrive here in Kerala. From a long time, I have made regular visits to Kerala. But now the situation here in Kerala is not the same. There are big changes taking places here. I am very happy." Snippets from this video then went viral in Kerala. After a brief interruption, the translator later corrected when the error was pointed out. Watch video about the K Surendran's Speech Translation of Narendra Modi in Kerala.

How Prashant Kishor has upended the UP elections by proposing Priyanka Gandhi for CM

Prashant Kishor’s formula for the Congress’s resuscitation in Uttar Pradesh is as follows: Rahul Gandhi; if he demurs, then Priyanka; and if she also doesn’t want to lead the party in the state, then Sheila Dikshit. This is a sure way of shooting down the chances of at least one person. Even assuming that the venerable Dikshit – who has proven credentials as a chief minister and administrator, having bucked incumbency three times (a record not many Congress CMs can boast of) to lead the Delhi Congress – is willing to re-enter the snake-pit of UP politics at the age of 75-plus, what should we really expect from her? Every mohallaBrahmin who is a secret Congress sympathiser will be ready to jump into the fray – if it is to be Sheila Dikshit, why not me?

UP Elections : Two things are obvious. One, that Sonia Gandhi has retreated completely from decision making. She merely initials suggestions emanating from Tughlak Lane and 10 Janpath is merely a re-tweeting authority where a retweet is an endorsement. The leadership transition is happening even as we speak. In this process, many are deeply unhappy. They had invested in 10 Janpath and that piece of real estate is rapidly becoming worthless. The older leaders in the party knew and trusted the moves made by 10 Janpath. They don’t understand alternate poles of power like Prashant Kishor. No rebellion yet, but sabotage cannot be ruled out.

The second follows the first. If Sonia Gandhi is retreating, Rahul Gandhi cannot leave the running of the party and allow himself to be boxed in. If he becomes party president after May 19, as is generally expected, Priyanka will have to willy-nilly take charge in UP. To that extent, Dikshit etc are red herrings: no doubt they are conscious of it as well.

What is clear is the Kishor strategy of disruption. The Congress was nowhere in the reckoning in UP. Now suddenly people have begun talking about the party, there is discussion and speculation and the games have begun.Read more about this Article.

West Bengal assembly polls: Around 22% voter turnout recorded in first two hours

Nearly 22% turnout was recorded in the first two hours after polling began in 49 constituencies spread over two districts - Howrah and North 24 Parganas - bordering Kolkata in phase four of the West Bengal assembly elections on Monday.

"Till 9.00 a.m, 21.87% turnout was recorded, with 22.63% in North 24 Parganas and 20.34% in Howrah," said an Election Commission (EC) official.

Read more from our special coverage on "WEST BENGAL ASSEMBLY POLLS"

• West Bengal assembly polls: Fourth phase of voting begins today
• Congress, CPI(M) will realise mistake of forging alliance: Mamata Banerjee
• Rahul Gandhi attacks Mamata Banerjee, Modi; seeks vote for Cong-CPI(M) in Bengal
• Bengal assembly polls: CPI(M) not to succumb to politics of terror, says Sitaram Yechury
• West Bengal Assembly polls: Mamata Banerjee responds to EC show-cause notice

While the EC claimed the polls to be peaceful so far, the BJP and the Congress alleged false voting in some of the booths.

BJP's Roopa Ganguly contesting from Howrah North alleged false voting in one of the booths and also faced angry protests from alleged Trinamool Congress activists.

Her rival from the Trinamool Congress, retired international cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, denied the charges and claimed polling was peaceful in the constituency.

North 24 Parganas, a part of which falls under the world's largest mangrove forests - the Sundarbans - has 33 constituencies. The remaining 16 are in Howrah.

Over 1.08 crore (1,08,16,942) voters across 12,481 polling stations, including 27 auxiliary booths, are eligible to decide the fate of 345 candidates - 40 of them female - between 7.00 a.m and 6.00 p.m.

The Election Commission has used 14,353 electronic voting machines (EVM) and 680 Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

A total of 672 companies of central forces and 23,000 state police personnel have been deployed, in addition to other measures, to ensure free and fair polls in the two districts, considered volatile in view of their history of political clashes and poll-related disturbances in past Elections.

In the Sundarbans region, equipped with ham radio operations to solar lights, officials have gone the extra mile to ensure the electorate gets a chance to exercise their voting rights.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress - then an ally of the Congress - had bagged 43 of the 49 seats. The Congress had got two, the Left Front spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist three and the Communist Party of India one.

The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are in fray in all the constituencies. The Left Front constituents and the Congress are contesting 46 seats, leaving one seat to Janata Dal-United, besides backing two independents.Read more about Assembly Elections in 2016.

NDA defeat in Bihar no setback to economy: Jaitley

The Finance Minister also attributed NDA's defeat in Bihar to 'huge index of opposition unity'

Attributing the NDA's defeat in Bihar assembly elections to 'huge index of opposition unity', Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said it will not impact the economic reforms process.

"I don't see it as a setback to the economy... Structural reforms will continue. They should continue at a rapid pace," he said.

Read more from our special coverage on "BIHAR ELECTIONS"

• Old-timers, university junior recall Lalu Yadav, the man, the myth


• Bihar results setback for Centres GST agenda


• BJPs negative campaign gave Mahagathbandhan a landslide victory


• Rahul brought Nitish and Lalu together: RPN Singh


• Modi must take blame for Bihar defeat: Shiv Sena

1. Bihar Admitting that some irresponsible statements by certain BJP functionaries during the course of elections did change the narrative, Jaitley said the "index of opposition unity" was one of the biggest factors that led to the victory of the Mahagathbandhan in the Bihar assembly elections.

While the ruling NDA managed to get 58 seats (BJP 53) in the 243-member Bihar assembly, Mahagathbandhan got 178 seats.

The alliance comprises JD(U), RJD and Congress.

On whether Bihar election was a referendum on the policies of the Centre, Jaitley, in an interview to ET Now, said, "The word referendum is loosely used... Every election is not a referendum. A state election is not a referendum. You are not contesting on one issue."

He further said that the vote share of BJP has not come down and the victory of the Mahaghatbandhan was on account of different opposition forces coming together.

About reforms, Jaitley said government would continue them by taking executive actions and also in the Budget, which would be announced in February next year.

On the specific question of the pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, he hoped that Bihar, which is a consuming state, would support the legislation.

"I don't see (Bihar election outcome) as a setback to the economy at all. If under Nitish Kumar, Bihar grows and grows well, we have already announced economic package for the state, certainly we are going to help.

"Our commitment is the states which need to develop more we have to help them more," Jaitley said.         


Article Source: Business standard