TV row in Tamilnadu takes new turn

The war between the DMK and Maran brothers seems to be taking some intriguing turns, as Murasoli, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, on Thursday carried a big rejoinder to the ‘gossipy’ allegations made on Arasu Cable TV Corporation by Dinakaran, a daily owned by the Marans.

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On the front page itself, Murasoli published a feature titled ‘Peter Mamavum, Meter Mamiyum’ on the lines of ‘Peter Mama’, a chatty grapevine column in Dinakaran, in which the charges were made on Wednesday. Without mentioning any names directly, the Maran’s daily alleged that a top official of a recently launched channel (going by the hints dropped, it should be Sarath Reddy of Kalaignar TV) pressurised the authorities of Arasu Cable TV Corporation to buy equipment from a particular company, for which a huge amount of money was transferred to his bank account. It also alleged that another honcho of the television channel was also involved in it. To this, Murasoli has replied that no such transaction was made and all purchases were carried out after going through proper tender notifications and procedures. ‘Will any company pay Rs 12 crore as commission for a sale worth Rs 16 crore?’ it questioned. The DMK’s organ also came down heavily on Maran brothers with a couple of strongly worded sentences. Also, sources say that there may be a new but quiet camaraderie emerging between former foes, AIADMK leader, J Jayalalithaa, and brothers Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi Maran. While Karunanidhi’s family’s members are busy in a cable war with the Marans, Jayalalithaa has quietly found her way into the newsrooms of Sun TV channel and Dinakaran. Jayalalithaa’s smiling visage routinely pops up on the Sun TV news these days and news editors of Dinakaran have stopped trashing her daily missives against the DMK government. Her anti-Karunanidhi statements are not only given prominent coverage but are always accompanied by her photographs. The Sun News channel, too, telecasts her photograph and carefully lists the main points in her statements, mostly targetting the DMK government. It has to be noted that Jayalalithaa’s name barely found mention in the newspaper or the channel, except when she came under Karunanidhi’s attack at the peak of Dayanidhi Maran’s brief, high profile political career. These days, her scathing criticism against the DMK regime is an almost daily item on Sun and Dinakaran.