Once united in ambition, the Maran brothers are now locked in a bitter feud, with Dayanidhi alleging share manipulation and denial of rightful dues in the ₹24,000-crore Sun TV empire.
Chennai: This may be the end of a beautiful relationship. The fratricidal dispute between Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi Maran has ended the decades of good times in which the brothers were seen to be together, always in tune with each other’s ambitions while separating their professional areas of interest.
Kalanidhi looked after the media business while Dayanidhi pursued politics as a career and became a Union minister. But now, Dayanidhi is pointing fingers at his elder brother, accusing him of taking over the whole of Sun TV while denying relatives their rightful share in the Rs 24,000-crore empire that he built at Sun TV.
All business families may go through this phase of internecine quarrels. The case of the Marans seems an extreme from which the chance of any patch-up appears distant now. The charges Maran makes are serious and cover a gamut of operations like Sun TV, SpiceJet and the Sunrisers IPL team in which Kalanidhi has been the dominant figure.
As a media mogul, Kalanidhi ran his businesses with an imperious touch, while Dayanidhi was the public figure with an empathy for the people at large. Kalanidhi’s growth with the setting up of Sun TV in the early 1990s and forays into aviation and showbiz has been phenomenal.
It is apparent now that certain steps he may have taken may have helped consolidate his business empire if there is any truth to the serious allegations that Dayanidhi is making. A lot of dust did kick up at the time he got the IPL franchise for a song, thanks to a senior BCCI figure who was one of his father’s closest friends.
Kalanidhi has been charged with manipulation of company shareholding done to promote his interests while denying close kin, including his mother Mallika Maran and the DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal.
“The offences committed by you are continuous in nature and continue as on date,” Dayanidhi said in the explosive legal notice he sent early this month to his elder brother. The crux of the charges was the transfer of shares and enjoying the dividends over a couple of decades, and the control of vast amounts that accrued to him.
The sentence best conveys what Dayanidhi says happened at Sun TV at a time their father, 'Murasoli’ Maran, a nephew of Karunanidhi, was critically ill and unlikely to survive – “Till September 15, 2003, you did not hold a single share in the company. Suddenly, overnight, you have become a majority shareholder with controlling interest.” This was in Dayanidhi’s legal notice to Kalanidhi.
The DMK first family may have seen fratricidal disputes, but they were usually settled without coming into the public domain. This is the first feud that has exploded into the open with Dayanidhi going all out to challenge the family’s history as well as its most successful business like Sun TV, that had begun with Dayalu Ammal and Mallika Maran as shareholders.
There may be no immediate political fallout from this bust-up as Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had taken control of that part of the family’s interests from his ailing father soon after the 2016 Assembly elections. And yet, for the sake of unity and the family name, the Chief Minister might be inclined to intervene in a dispute that could become a protracted legal battle between brothers.
Kalanithi, as a promoter, owns 75 per cent shareholding in Sun TV Network. Sun TV Network said, "The alleged matter dates back to 22 years, when the company was a closely held private limited company". Defending the promoter, it further stated, "Statements allegedly made in the articles are incorrect, misleading, speculating, defamatory and not supported by facts or law".
"We wish to inform that all acts have been done in accordance with legal obligations and the same have been duly vetted by concerned intermediaries before the public issue of the company," it said.
Moreover, Sun TV Network also said the media reports claiming a rift between the promoter Maran brothers "does not have any bearing on the business of the company or its day-to-day functioning".
Sun TV Network also clarified that it is a "family matter of the promoter" and is "purely personal in nature".
