Sahara after Saharasri Srivastava takes reins but Swapna may be CMD Exactly a week before Sahara India group’s chairman Subrata Roy passed away, he signed a letter from his hospital bed on November 7, 2023, giving all operational control of the group to O P Srivastava, his trusted lieutenant of over three decades. In this letter, Co-ord. Ref. No. 001/101/4145, the Sahara India chairman said it was not possible for him to look into administrative matters and “it has, therefore, been felt that a person of stature and rank be given all administrative powers so that decisions are made swiftly, and all obligations/commitments are met within specific time frames”. The letter continued saying: “As such, it has been decided that Shri O P Srivastava be vested with this additional responsibility. It need not be emphasised that Shri O P Srivastava has been a priceless asset to our Pariwar and has attained unanimous acclaim for his ability to be at the forefront of administrative activity and taking quick and appropriate decisions.” In light of the circular, Srivastava has emerged as the group’s boss. However, sources in the company said that this arrangement is temporary, and the widow of Subrata Roy, Swapana Roy, will ultimately take over as the chairman and managing director of the group. There is, however, one problem. Swapna is a Macedonian citizen. So is the older son of Subrata Roy, Sushanto. The younger son, Seemanto, is an Indian citizen. The sons live in London and Dubai and have shown no interest in returning to India to take over their father’s company in light of numerous cases pending against the promoters. Swapna was not allowed to leave India when she came here to meet her ailing husband. According to sources, Swapna has decided to take the baton and fight the cases. The group is rich in assets but short on liquidity. Therefore, the first big battle is for the release of Rs 24,000 crore deposited with SEBI. The group’s fate depends largely on how the courts rule on this issue.
The other battle in MP Nath-Akhilesh spat has non-political roots The tussle for seat sharing in Madhya Pradesh between the Congress and Samajwadi Party had taken an ugly turn. It saw heated exchanges between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and State Congress president Kamal Nath. When Congress refused to leave seats for the SP in the assembly election, Akhilesh hinted at settling scores in Lok Sabha elections when Congress approaches the SP for seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh. According to sources, Kamal Nath and Akhilesh Yadav have a decade-old history of bitterness. It started with a power purchase deal by the UP government under Akhilesh’s chief ministership. The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd had floated a tender to purchase 6,000 megawatts of power. The tender was closed in 2012. Among the bidders was the PTC-MB Power consortium. MB Power, part of this consortium, is run by Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri, who operates a 1200 MW thermal power plant at Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh. The last date for tender submission was extended, and the power purchase agreement was signed at record-high rates. MB Power was among the beneficiaries of this tender and the high rate of PPA. Everything was going well. But then something snapped. According to sources, Akhilesh has been cut up with the Nath family since then. The Samajwadi Party has been winning a couple of seats in MP in areas adjoining Uttar Pradesh and a section of Congress feels that the leadership would have done well to part with some seats. It would have helped its cause in UP in the next Lok Sabha elections, these leaders say. Having the right negotiators is half the battle won.
