Ministers stay away from young Murdoch's dinner party

Ministers stay away from young Murdoch's dinner party
ANURADHA RAMAN

NEW DELHI, NOV 23: Who would resist the temptation of dining with media-moghul-in-waiting James Murdoch, especially when he calls on them and has a table booked in their honour at the Oberoi? At least four ministers who were invited to share a quiet evening with the younger Murdoch at the Terrace Garden two days ago, politely declined the invitation.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had just announced her decision to free the airwaves for DTH, was too preoccupied, though she expressed her regrets much before Murdoch called on her on Tuesday.

Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahahan -- who seldom misses a chance to bond with media barons -- also stayed out. Others to follow suit were Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and former Information minister and present Law Minister, Arun Jaitley.

Faced with a media policy that threatens to put his father's Direct-to-Home plans back on the backburner because of its stifling cap on foreign equity, and playing second fiddle to Pramod Mittal for Radio FM, suddenly nobody wants to be seen dining with junior anymore, not the ministers anyway.

It was only seven months ago that father Murdoch had come -- minus Chinese wife Wendy Deng -- and declared that he was willing to take a second shot at DTH. The press printed it verbatim. His visit was personal, his stay was not. All the political leaders were at hand on the same table, dining with the NewsCorp baron, including Swaraj, Mahajan, Jaitley and Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee.

Rival Kerry Packer, who followed soon, grabbed the media limelight and pleased his guests -- including former Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley -- when he unveiled a $ 250-million venture capital deal split between Indian partners Ketan Parekh, HFCL and himself. Even his daughter-in-law was widely photographed for the dress code she endorsed. The Packer duo of father and son ensured that everybody who was anybody in the country was invited to the Ashoka Hotel convention hall.

Harvard-dropout James Murdoch, who started work as vice-president for music and news media at NewsCorp and worked his way up to chief executive of Star, was largely ignored by the very influential people who had rubbed shoulders with his father. While the Oberoi's Terrace Garden rolled out the red carpet for him, his power guests let him down.

With all four ministers preferring to skip the dinner, it was left to the inner circle of Star family to hold the fort. CEO News Television India Peter Mukherjea, lawyer Ryan Karanjiwalla, partners in FM -- and possibly in DTH Pramod Mittal -- kept James company.