Two recent events underplayed by the media has caused ripples in political Tamil Nadu and are being discussed in a hush-hush manner by all political parties in the State.
Monday saw Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani calling on DMK president MK Stalin at the latter’s residence in Chennai. The entire Stalin clan was in attendance to receive the billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani.
The Reliance Group chairman and his wife called on the Stalins to invite them for the marriage of their son Aakash to be held in the month of March. Later in the day Stalin tweeted the pictures of the country’s richest man’s visit to his home in Chennai.
“It was a pleasure to receive a courtesy call from Thiru Mukesh Ambani, Chairman Reliance Industries Limited, in Chennai earlier this evening,” Stalin tweeted.
But what surprised the political commentators in Tamil Nadu is the timing of the visit. The Reliance Group Chairman did not call on Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy or any other political bigwigs in the State. Moreover they pointed out that Mukesh Ambani had not invited Stalin for the wessing of his daughter which was solemnised earlier this year. The fact that the Reliance Group did not attend the last month’s Global Investors Meet convened by the AIADMK Government too has not gone unnoticed.
Yet another VIP who made it to the residence of the DMK chief in late January was Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group. This visit too was described by the DMK office as a courtesy call. Ratan Tata is a business baron who does not call on political leaders and that too at their residences. Hence his visit to Stalin’s house is being watched seriously but without any hype in the media. The Tata Group which is headed by Tamil Nadu born Natarajan Chandrasekaran, too was conspicuous by their absence during the GIM held at Chennai.
The only link that comnnects the Tata Group honcho to the DMK was the Neera Radia Tape of the infamous 2G Spectrum Scam in which the telephonic conversations featured Ratan Tata and Kanimozhi, Stalin’s step-sister. The visits of Mukesh Ambani to Stalin’s residence comes at a time when there are media reports about the strained ties between the Reliance Group Chairman and the BJP top leadership.
