This friction within the family soon entered business, as Azhagiri launched his own multi-system operation Royal Cable Vision to take on Sun Group’s Sumangali Cable Vision. The situation in Madurai and nearby districts, where Azhagiri’s writs rule, was tense after it was reported that cable operators were threatened to cease transmission of Sun Group channels to the thousands of subscribers.

After the war of words turned bitter and when Karunanidhi himself held no punches back while writing his column in party organ Murasoli on Marans’ ‘betrayal’, rumours were rife that the brothers would turn to another political force like AIADMK or even DMDK to get some political muscle. Now that the family got together - even if for a photo op - those rumours have been laid to rest, at least for now.

In the meanwhile, the Kalaignar TV, DMK’s answer to Sun TV, launched a 24-hour news channel Kalaigner News, apparently to take on the mighty Sun News that has turned a bitter critic of the state Government.