Why did the President spurn M A M Ramaswamy's nomination to the Rajya Sabha?

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

The hot topic of conversation in Madras is the reported rejection, by President Shankar Dayal Sharma, of industrialist M A M Ramaswamy's name for a nominated Rajya Sabha seat.

What makes the President's act rather strange is the fact that the chairman of the Rs 70 billion Chettinad Cements company has no visible enemies in regional, or even national, politics. In fact, Ramaswamy is perhaps the only big time figure in Tamil Nadu who, despite the handicap of having been visibly close to former chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram, is looked upon with benevolence by the successor regime of Muthuvel Karunanidhi. His Rajya Sabha nomination had the support, thus, of the ruling DMK and its ally, the Tamil Maanila Congress. And, equally importantly, there were no opponents.

Ramaswamy is in fact something of a living legend in TN circles. His father and grandfather ruled Chettinad. In these democratic times, Ramaswamy is merely the area's most famous son -- but the 63-year-old is still known as the 'Raja of Chettinad'.

The industralist has a penchant for making the front pages with fair regularity. The leading racehorse owner in the country with a stable in excess of 400 pedigree horses, Ramaswamy -- winner of the most number of classics in Indian turf history -- had his latest brush with the media over the suspension by the Madras Race Club of ace jockey Pesi Shroff. Ramaswamy was reported to be behind the move, which Shroff successfully challenged in the Supreme Court.

An easy-going, non-controversial personality otherwise, the industrialist has of late developed a passion for political office. His name was rumoured for a Rajya Sabha ticket by the ruling AIADMK a couple of years back. And even prior to that, the Congress had toyed with a similar notion. In fact, Ramaswamy, it is said, was in the running for a Congress ticket for the prestigious South Madras parliamentary seat during last year's general election, but when the TMC was formed, the savvy industrialist realised that the Congress ticket was not one likely to attract the voters, and gave up his bid.

Interestingly, he is a maternal uncle of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and reportedly close to TMC founder G Karuppiah Moopanar besides being a frequent visitor to the residence of Chief Minister Karunanidhi. As for Jayalalitha, his proximity with the AIADMK supremo can be gauged from the fact that it was on his land, adjoining the palatial Chettinad Palace, that the then TN chief minister celebrated the mega wedding of her foster son V N Sudhakaran.

One reason for the universal goodwill Ramaswamy enjoys could be his princely philanthropy. Annamalai University, the first privately owned varsity in the country, was founded by Ramaswamy's grandfather, the late Sir Annamalai Chettiar and today, Ramaswamy continues the tradition, occupying the post of pro-vice-chancellor of the university.

Incidentally, it was Annamalali University that had conferred an honorary doctorate on Karunanidhi during his first stint as chief minister, in the early seventies -- an incident everyone involved would like to forget. The student wing of the Congress had organised a protest at the time, and in course of the resulting police action, one of the leaders was found dead in a tank on the campus.

Asked the secret of Ramaswamy's popularity which cuts across party lines, a senior TMC leader said, "You know how such things work in a regional party. Ramaswamy is close to both Moopanar and Karunanidhi, and is less controversial than most other industrialists. Besides, the family's contribution in the field of education cannot be ignored, and no leader from any political party can really lay as much claim to a nominated seat in the Rajya Sabha as he can."

Why then was the nomination nixed by the President? "Maybe it's Ramaswamy's controversial turf image and some recent controversies involving the collection of donations from students of Annamalai University that came in the way," argues the leader. "Otherwise, I can see no reason why his claim was ignored."

It could, however, be merely a temporary setback. Ramaswamy enjoys the fierce loyalty of the hugely influential Chettiar community, and is a cert to win almost any constituency he stands for. And given that his political ambitions are no secret, it could be merely a matter of time before he is given a ticket by one or other of the regional parties. True, a section of the community was upset when he adopted a 'commoner' as his son and prospective heir a couple of years back. The boy, Ayyappan, was renamed Muthiah after Ramaswamy's father. In the interim between then and now, however, even that controversy has died down, and as far as the Chettiar community is concerned, Ramaswamy remains the uncrowned king of Chettinad -- Rajya Sabha seat or no.