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The reasons for Rupa Gurunath’s resignation as President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) run deeper than the BCCI resolution citing a conflict of interest. This is one of the battles former BCCI and ICC chief honcho N Srinivasan is fighting to retain control over his billion-dollar brand — CSK. Earlier, Radhakishan Damania of DMart fame picked up a nearly 20% stake in India Cements. Was it to wrest control? Currently held by Indian Cements Shareholders Group Trust, CSK would become vulnerable if Srini is unable to ward off raids on India Cements. His plan is to move daughter Rupa to a key post in CSK after restructuring its ownership so that the IPL franchise stays in the family, regardless of developments in India Cements’ shareholding pattern. There is still a lot of fight left in the old cricket lover and corporate czar who once fought a pitched battle to wrest back control of the cement company with the help of Murasoli Maran. But if the tide turns against him, Srini would rather keep CSK in the family and leave the TNCA presidency to the DMK first family. V Sabareesan, the son-in-law of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, is one of the frontrunners for the post after it was found that son Udhayanidhi was ineligible as he holds public office as an MLA.
A proliferation of the newfound Covid virus or the Omicron Effect is rippling through the Bollywood taking in A listers into its embrace. It began with Kareena Kapoor Khan and friends – Amrita Arora and Seema Khan – admitting to their positive status with Covid after attending a party that was high on the celebrities’ quotient. Then came news of the other Kapoors. While Anil Kapoor was negative, daughter Rhea and her husband Karan and cousins Anshula and Arjun Kapoor tested positive. Curiously, none of these celebrities took to social media to apprise their daily contacts and connections about their Covid status, ignoring commonly followed protocol. Why these stars failed to warn people they came in contact with is perplexing. Others like Ekta Kapoor, who also tested positive, immediately posted their Corona status on social media. John Abraham and wife Priya also tested positive, while Pooja Bedi’s daughter Alaya F who was covid positive finally tested negative. Some crew members of the film Geheriyaanhave also tested positive. Despite infections reported rampantly, shooting for films and TV serials continues unabated just as before. However, two big films RRR and Jersey releases have been postponed as cinema halls are being shut in some states or occupancy reduced to 50% levels. Looks like Bollywood has thrown caution to the wind.
During a recent year-end TV event, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami revealed how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post-midnight visit to Varanasi Railway Station actually came about. The visit followed immediately after the PM concluded his meeting with 12 BJP Chief Ministers and two deputy CMs that had gone on way past midnight. After the meeting ended around 12.30 am, Modi told the CMs that he had one more engagement before he called it a day. They were collectively taken aback! “What engagement could the PM possibly have at such a late hour?” they wondered. The PM ended the suspense by stating that he would be checking the progress of development works in Varanasi city. He added that he did not want to do it during the day as his formal visit would disturb normalcy. So he preferred the wee hours of the night to inspect Varanasi railway station and other infra projects with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in tow. By 6.30 am the Prime Minister had launched into his next day’s official tasks without having slept a wink. Modi takes immense pride in his Lok Sabha constituency, particularly on remaking the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, and has asked party MPs to visit the pilgrim city, considered sacred by Hindus. Party leaders were also given booklets regarding the reshaping of Kashi under Modi.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has mastered the art of saying ‘No’ tactfully, without acrimony, notwithstanding his bonhomie with the BJP. So, when the Ministry Of Home Affairs refused to renew the registration of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act leading to a fund crunch and threatening a possible collapse of its charitable activities in the state, Patnaik stepped in with relief supplies. Acting quickly and, instead of indulging in empty political rhetoric, Patnaik directed all District Collectors (DCs) to ensure that no inmates would miss a meal or suffer health-related issues at any of Mother Teresa’s homes due to food shortage or lack of medical supplies. The Odisha CM opened up the coffers of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. While doing so Patnaik was not cocking-a-snook at the Centre over the blockade imposed on foreign funding but ensuring that people in Mother Teresa’s homes in Odisha did not suffer hunger or sickness. Some political analysts say that Patnaik, unlike other opposition leaders, did not whine or go to the media about the Centre’s action but took decisions in the best interest of his state. Once again, Patnaik has reiterated that he is the boss of Odisha and his governance style is to talk less and do more public service.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry witnessed many learning curves and has come a long way since the days of controls. Today, the industry wears an entirely transformed look. In the rough and tumble of the modern-day business world, which has to contend with intense competition, only an honourable few have managed to ensure the longevity of their respective businesses. Take the case of Chennai-based company Tablets (India), one of the early pharmaceutical ventures in the country. It was founded in 1938 by Sri Krishna Jhaver, who ventured into the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry and acquired the British-owned Oakley & Bowden Company based out of Chennai. While primarily set up to serve the healthcare needs of British Colonials, it was renamed Tablets (India). It boasts of some well-documented products in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical segments and is recognized as a pioneer in amino acids and probiotic therapy. A flagship company of the closely-held Jhaver Group, it is managed by accomplished professionals across various functions in the organization. It has five business divisions and three manufacturing facilities. How long could it have remained a family-owned enterprise? Not just that. The owners too, want to unlock value, thereby monetizing a part of their holdings. And what better way than to tap into the capital markets even as IPOs seem to be the flavour of the season.
There is no way the zoom media interaction at god’s own and sparkling wine country, Cape Town, can become “Dhoom, dham”; that’s the way Head Coach Rahul Dravid, uttering a line or two with gusto before the second Test, wanted Virat Kohli’s chat about with the media to be before his 100th Test at Newlands on January 11. Kohli, who has missed 13 Tests so far after his debut, because of injuries and personal, complained of a flare up of his upper back and is not playing the second Test at The New Wanderers in Johannesburg, and so the third Test at Cape Town, should he be declared fit, will be his 99th. This eventuality will make the first Test (from February 25) against Sri Lanka at Bengaluru his 100th. Kohli’s injury and absence from the second Test, enabled the selectors to name KL Rahul as India’s 19th captain in Test cricket and Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain. It would be interesting to see the way the selectors go about looking at Rohit Sharma’s fitness. With two World Cups of the Twenty20 and 50 over variety to happen from October- November this year, the selectors would want a captain without injury baggage or concern. By close of the tour in South Africa, Rahul would have led India in two formats. All said and done a terrific jigsaw puzzle taking shape in Indian cricket!
Will Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who turns 50 this year, contest elections in the forthcoming assemblies? Conventionally, UP Chief Ministerial candidates are known to prefer the legislative council route, as Yogi himself did in 2017. Things may change in 2022, however, and there is a strong buzz that he will definitely seek to enter the UP Vidhan Sabha, although Yogi has left the decision to the BJP’s top leadership. Will he opt for Ayodhya or his home turf of Gorakhpur which elected him 5 times as Lok Sabha MP? Yogi could also choose Mathura, where efforts to reclaim Krishna’s janmabhoomi are ongoing. Party MP Harnath Singh Yadav even dashed off a letter to BJP chief JP Nadda proposing Yogi’s name from Mathura, even claiming it was the ‘wish of Lord Krishna, who had communicated with him (Yogi)’. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav countered Yogi’s Mathura plans claiming that Lord Krishna had visited him in a dream also and told him that SP would form the next government! A year younger than Yogi, Akhilesh is the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh. Picking an assembly seat, however, won’t be easy after Yogi launched a no-holds-barred pitch of ‘Garv Se Kaho hum Hindu hai’ in Amethi. Akhilesh may not even find it easy going to contest from Yadav strong-holds like Kannauj and Mainpuri.
Former AIADMK minister KT Rajendra Balaji, who embarrassed his party by a public reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he said, “Modi is our Daddy”, has been on the lam for over a fortnight now. The Tamil Nadu police are on the lookout to arrest Balaji for alleged involvement in a Rs 3 crore recruitment scam reported during his ministerial stint at the helm of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation, which markets products under the brand name Aavin. The fugitive ex-minister, who was hopeful of securing anticipatory bail, was last seen addressing a public meeting in his Virudhunagar constituency. The moment police reached the spot he did a Houdini act and vanished much to their consternation. The TN police formed six special squads to nab him and have gone into overdrive, viewed by many as vendetta politics of the MK Stalin government. The underlying objective of the ruling DMK government is to tarnish the image and name of the AIADMK. Balaji is known to sport a red tilak prominently on his forehead and, mostly attired in bright mustard yellow shirt, is equally colorful in his choice of words. He served as Tamil Nadu’s Milk & Dairy Development Minister between 2016 and 2021. During the last Assembly elections, he tried his best to jump onto the BJP bandwagon but found no takers.
Before he flew to Europe over the year-end, Wayanad (Kerala) MP Rahul Gandhi thrust a futile debate upon his own unsuspecting Congress party — Hinduism versus Hindutva-vadi. At an anti-price rise Congress rally in Jaipur held on December 12 to launch the party’s campaign in poll-bound states in north India, Rahul had inexplicably veered off-course while mid-speech. A needless debate was kicked off by the Gandhi scion and has now been capped by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on January 3. In his counter Yogi made clear that the Congress leader was lecturing people about the differences between Hinduism and Hindutva even though he had once sat on his knees in a temple instead of sitting cross-legged. “Gandhi’s ancestors called themselves accidental Hindus”;Yogi said, referring to Hindu Mahasabha leader NB Khare’s assertion about Nehru in 1950. Yogi asserted that he had never hesitated to refer to himself as a Hindu. “We don’t hide..We said it when I was not a chief minister, we keep saying it when I am the chief minister, and will continue saying in future too — Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain. It’s interesting that Yogi made the remarks in Amethi where Rahul had further sharpened his Hindu versus Hindutva postulation against the BJP. It was during his, now very rare and, infrequent visits to Amethi that Rahul had also taken a swipe at PM Narendra Modi for taking a solo dip in the Ganges while inaugurating the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack
It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.