Business feud divides Maran brothers, but it might not spill over in politics

Though Kalanidhi himself is yet to react, the SUN TV Networks in an exchange filing has said that all acts were in “accordance with legal obligation”, done 22 years back when the company was a “closely held private limited company”.

A long-drawn-out, behind-the-scenes financial battle in the Karunanidhi-Maran family has burst out in the open with the former Union minister and DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran sending a legal notice to his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran (Chairman of SUN TV group), his wife Kaveri Kalanidhi and six others on June 10.

The feuds within the family are tightly controlled; they erupt in different forms and family members take different sides, but usually, the late family patriarch and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi would settle matters.

But this time, there is no stopping the younger Maran, who is demanding that the entire shareholdings of the SUN TV Networks Limited be returned to the original owners, MK Dayalu (Dayalu Ammal), wife of Karunanidhi and the heirs of the late SN Maran, better known as Murasoli Maran, the father of the Maran brothers.

“There is a manifest criminal intent on your part to mislead not only your immediate family members but also other significant stakeholders, including Tmt.M.K.Dayalu. Even my client’s (Dayanidhi) father had absolutely no intention to allot even a single share to No.1 of you (Kalanidhi) and consciously kept No.1 of you as a mere employee of the company despite the close relationship. However, when my client’s father was in critical health condition suffering from multiple organ failure and was in coma and was on life support, and when the entire family was concentrating to improve the health of my client’s father, No.1 of you on the other hand stealthily used the unfortunate situation and grabbed 60% shares in a single shot without any consent or approval from existing shareholders / promoters, by passing a resolution in favour of No.1 of you by No.1of you in conspiracy and collusion with No.2 (Kaveri) to 8 of you,” the legal notice by Dayanidhi's advocate K Suresh stated.

Dayalu Ammal, who is now indisposed, is the mother of Chief Minister MK Stalin. It is apparent that Dayanidhi has the support of the Karunanidhi family. According to sources, it is unlikely to intervene or come in the way of Dayanidhi. When he had raised the issue earlier, Karunanidhi would intervene to avert a public spat.

Though Kalanidhi himself is yet to react, the SUN TV Networks in an exchange filing has said that all acts were in “accordance with legal obligation”, done 22 years back when the company was a “closely held private limited company”. It termed the alleged "illegal acts” as “incorrect, misleading, (speculative), and not supported by facts or law”.

The opposition is sure to harvest the issue. But, except for the Telecom scam, no family feud had much bearing on the Tamil Nadu electorate.

Murasoli Maran, the nephew of Karunanidhi (his sister Shanmugasaudaram’s son) was the master strategist for the party and often called the Chanakya of the party. It was a big blow to Karunanidhi when the senior Maran was comatose and eventually died in 2003. The SUNTV group’s journey began with M/s.Sumangali Publications Private Limited, promoted by Dayalu and Maran’s wife Mallika Maran.

While Maran’s elder son Kalanidhi chose to take over the business of SUN TV, Dayanidhi joined politics. Maran’s daughter Anbukarasi is a doctor by profession. Though Kalanidhi did not join politics, he is said to have helped his brother in strategising his political moves.

The understanding was that Kalanidhi will take care of business interests, while Dayanidhi took on an active political role.

Dayanidhi also chose not to be active in the television network business of the family as he wanted to avoid any charges of conflict of interest as he served as the Union Minister of Telecommunications in the UPA government.

But there were charges that he aided the business interests of the family misusing his office. The CBI, which investigated the case, had alleged that Dayanidhi installed a private telephone exchange at his Boat Club and Gopalapuram residences in Chennai between 2004 and 2006. Altogether 764 high-speed telecommunication lines were functional at his residence to facilitate the illegal uplink of Sun TV data, according to the charges framed in the case. The CBI alleged that the illegal telephone exchange cost the government a loss of Rs 1.78 crore.

Even at the time, Kalanithi had distanced himself from his brother by insisting that he was made a “scapegoat” and that he was “unnecessarily being included in the case” despite the CBI’s charge sheet not mentioning his name. Sun TV, he pointed out, was started by him in 1994, while Dayanidhi was a minister holding the Telecommunications portfolio only between 2004 and 2007.

Various financial settlements were made within the family, but Dayanidhi evidently feels that he has not got his fair share.