The Deoras and the Ambanis have been close. Mukesh’s support for Milind should not be taken out of context

Every Indian citizen of voting age gets one vote during the general elections and every voter has a choice to make about the Member of Parliament whom he/she chooses. It is ostensibly a secret ballot but as everybody knows, every single Indian has an opinion about politics as well as candidates. Then why should India’s richest man be any different? Especially since a family friend is contesting from the constituency where he has a vote. The long-standing relationship between the Ambani and Deora clans goes back to the time of Dhirubhai Ambani and Murli Deora. Famously, the elder Deora was petroleum Minister when the elder Ambani was establishing Reliance to become the petrochemicals industry behemoth that it has become today. And as the younger Ambani wants to establish Reliance as a telecommunications and retail behemoth, having a family friend in the younger Deora as a potential Government Minister if the Congress comes to power, would certainly help. However, to see this solely as Mukesh Ambani putting all his eggs in the Congress’ basket would be a mistake.

The Ambani family has always played every side of the political spectrum. Over the past few years, Mukesh Ambani has delivered keynote speeches at events hosted by BJP Governments and meets hosted by non-BJP Governments as well. The Reliance Group has always dealt with politicians like individuals with whom they have to deal for the sake of business but some of them become fairly close to it. That said, the company and its leaders have always been excellent in reading which way the political winds are blowing. In making his statement, has Mukesh Ambani sensed that the Congress is on the upswing across India? This is corroborated by many localised surveys across the country, although national surveys still put the BJP in pole position to form the next Government with fewer seats than in 2014. But of course, surveys and even Artificial Intelligence cannot predict the mind of the voter. What’s on the mind of every Indian voter will be revealed on May 23. However, Mukesh Ambani has the right to express his opinion, particularly as to who should be his own Member of Parliament. And like many of us who tend to vote for politicians with whom we share a personal connection, why shouldn’t Ambani?