Karunanidhi has amassed wealth beyond wildest imagination for a man who ‘landed in Chennai with a Steel trunk’
His Family Tree shall make Royal Court Of Arms wince.
His method of creating benamis is to be seen to be believed.
-Wife,Companions,Sons,Daughters,Grand sons, Grand daughters,Nephews, Nieces,Sister,sisters son in laws,Son in law,son in laws’s parents.his next in command in the party,party men, Bureaucrats,Drivers, Peons and cooks.
He has a Trust in his parent’s name which he controls indirectly.
His kin have been acquiring Educational institutions and Real Estate on a large-scale.
He owns Industries indirectly.
To know more please read my blog filed under ‘Corruption’
How has he become such a power in Tamil Nadu?
Separate blog Follows.
He has a TV Network-Kalaignar TV , from which he withdrew in Public but his wife holds shares.
His grand sons control the Film industry having production and distribution Houses-Red Giant Movies,Cloud Nine movies-his nephew production House Sun Movies.
Sun TV Network is controlled by his sister’s son at the top and Bangalore Operations are controlled by his son in law.
Story:
This week, continuing its campaign against out-of-turn allotments of land and property, TEHELKA has an exposé on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) which commands a large land bank, has a government discretionary quota (GDQ) under which 15 percent of all allotments can be recommended by the CM. Eligibility for allotment under GDQ is as follows: single/deserted women; widows; social workers; physically handicapped persons; defence personnel; ex-servicemen; eminent persons in the field of science, arts, literature, economics, public administration and sports; freedom fighters; government servants with unblemished service records; employees of PSUs, central government undertakings and nationalised banks; PF institutions; journalists; university staff; and employees of local bodies and municipalities.
While some of these categories sound kosher, most of them raise a fundamental question: why should the government have the power to give coveted land to select employees and journalists over others? The only rationale could be proximity — which is an untenable reason for being the beneficiary of political favours, often worth several crores.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ne111210Coverstory.asp
PERHAPS THE starkest example of a family member whose phenomenal growth started completely outside democratic space is Azhagiri, Karunanidhi’s second son, now the Union chemicals and fertilisers minister. The 62-year-old contested his first election only in 2009, from the Madurai constituency. What looked like a political debut, however, was only a legitimisation of his iron grip over the southern districts for more than 30 years. In the recently leaked phone taps that exposed the 2G spectrum scam, TN Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna, speaking to telecom lobbyist Niira Radia, referred to Azahagiri as “a cut-throat politician”.
It all started with a banishment. In the early 1980s, Karunanidhi had sent Azhagiri, then a bank employee, to Madurai, which was his wife Kanthi’s home town. He was to run the Madurai edition of the DMK mouthpieceMurasoli, but was given no say in editorial decisions. He soon lost interest and directed his energies to other profitable ventures. Visibly, Azhagiri now runs a TV channel, a cable service provider (Royal Video), a wedding hall and a huge showroom of silk textiles. But covertly, he also controls the muscle power and moneybags that run the city — the contractors, brokers and land mafia. “Do you know how many stories I’ve written about people who’ve been threatened, harassed or killed after going to the police or court to challenge Azhagiri and his associates?” asks Idaya, a Maduraibased Tamil journalist. “After a point, I realised that there is no point in criticising the king in his own court.”
As Azhagiri unleashed his kangaroo courts, extortion rackets and henchmen on Madurai, election after election, the city’s largely working class population kept voting CPM candidates to the Lok Sabha, and the AIADMK to the legislature. “Azhagiri used to say that Madurai was being run by the wrong parties,” says TKS Elangovan, senior DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP. In 1996, when the DMK swept the state, Azhagiri didn’t waste any time. “He used this opportunity to strengthen the DMK cadre in the south,” says Elangovan. When asked to elaborate on Azhagiri’s modus operandi, Elangovan grins broadly. “Hard work and charisma,” he says.
A long list of Election Commission notices to the Madurai wing of the DMK is less circumspect. It has found Azhagiri’s men guilty of dropping sealed envelopes with Rs. 500 notes in voters’ letter boxes (four notes for four voters) and his cable operators offering six months free usage to subscribers. Cartons of saris were found stored in the house of Azhagiri’s right-hand man, to be distributed at a rally. Weekly biriyani feasts were being held in slums, and women were being given cash coupons or pamphlets that could be exchanged for Rs. 100 at DMK offices. Before every election, goons were making door-to-door visits with sickles hanging down their backs. If anyone dared to protest, their land was confiscated and their vehicles destroyed.
While his men lashed through Madurai, Azhagiri himself cultivated the manner of a benevolent regional don with the dangerous unpredictability of a Sonny Corleone. Several Madurai-based bureaucrats, all of whom requested anonymity, admitted to having received death threats directly from Azhagiri in his pre-ministerial days. “If I didn’t give the tenders to the men he wanted me to, he would smile softly, look at his henchmen, and leave the room,” says a senior PWD employee. “It was the scariest thing in the world.”
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne260311Coverstory.asp
Some interesting facts also emerged from the open offer made on Monday:
– Kalanidhi Maran’s net worth was Rs 13,384 crore ($2.97 billion) as on June 10
– The new promoters propose to change the name of SpiceJet after acquisition and shift its registered office away from Gurgaon
– They have, however, undertaken not to sell any substantial asset of the airline
– SpiceJet was previously called Genius Leasing, M.G. Express, Modiluft and Royal Airways
– The airline has now been given permission overseas to Bangladesh, the Maldives and Nepal.
Commenting on the deal, Jagannadham Thunuguntla, equities head at leading brokerage SMC Capitals, said SpiceJet was among few airlines in India and globally which was running profitably.
“In the future if the government relaxes foreign investment norms for airlines, then SpiceJet can become a target for acquisition for a foreign carrier, netting the promoters a handsome premium,” Thunuguntla told IANS.
He said apart from the profits, which amounted to Rs 61.44 crore in the year ended March 31, the carrier can also fly abroad. In this regard, the Sun Network brand can capitalise on the large south Indian Indian diaspora in east Asia.
Maran’s SUN TV Network boasts 20 channels that reach 95 million households in India. It also beams to 27 overseas destinations with large south Indian diaspora including the US, Canada, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This apart, in its quest to be called a complete media and entertainment company, it runs 45 FM radio stations, two daily newspapers with a circulation of 1.2 million, four magazines and a direct-to-home satellite TV service with 5.5 million subscribers.
Its cinema arm makes at least eight movies every year, several of them with one of the biggest budgets for Indian films.
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