In an offensive against the Maran brothers, Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi, and the Sun Group headed by them, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi charged his ‘estranged’ grandnephews’ of acting against his family, party and Government.

Reacting to the allegations that Karunanidhi raised through his regular column in DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, Dayanidhi Maran told a hurriedly-called press meet later on Friday that his elder brother Kalanidhi had written a letter to the CM — not as a counter argument but as a clarification to clear the air.

Sources said Karunanidhi is peeved with the Marans and the Sun Group for being critical about the state Government and Dayanidhi’s successor in the Telecom Ministry, A Raja, who is embroiled in a multi-crore spectrum allocation controversy. The visual and print media owned by Sun Group had alleged that Raja went against a TRAI order on auctioning all spectrum.

The group’s daily dose of news bulletin is more critical about the functioning of the state Government than even the media houses floated by opposition parties.

Adding a hitherto unspoken business angle to the estrangement, Karunanidhi questioned the way in which the shares of Sun Group were bought from his family.

After the death of Karunanidhi’s nephew and Union Minister Murasoli Maran, the brothers had bought back the shares of the Sun Group held by Karunanidhi’s family (said to be 20 per cent) at a sum of Rs 100 crore “with a sense of urgency”. The group soon went public at the height of stock market boom, propelling the brothers into the list of Indian billionaires.

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