The real story behind DMK’s 50 lakh colour TV sets

CHENNAI: Come September… The innocent people of Tamil Nadu who voted  M Karunanidhi back to power will start receiving the colour TV sets promised by the DMK in its election manifesto. Fifty lakh colour TV sets!! You may hold your breath for a few seconds because of the enormous cost involved in the distribution of this many TV sets. Wait, if you listen more about the financial implications involved in the doling out of these TV sets, chances are that you will sit spellbound. One need not explain who are the sole owners of the DMK party. Karunanidhi together with his son Stalin and Murasoli Maran and his sons Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi held the controlling stakes of the party.  The Sun network, India’s major satellite television network and a number of popular publications are owned by the Maran brothers. They also own Sumangali Cable Vision, south India’s largest cable TV network.

Well, with DMK’s free TV distribution to 5 million families, the Maran brothers will coolly pocket anything from Rs 1000,000000 to Rs 2000,000000 as commission alone on the purchase of the TV sets. The 50 lakh TV sets will cost the party a minimum of Rs 5,0000000000 at the rate of Rs 10,000 per TV set. Add to this the monthly rent of Rs 200 to be charged from the proud owners of the new TV sets by Sumangali Cable Vision. It will come to an exorbitant Rs 1000,000,000 per month!   All this money will go to the private coffers of the Maran family. This is in addition to the host of newspapers, weeklies, monthlies and other periodicals owned by the Maran family who along with Karunanidhi swear by Marx on each and every occasion.