Published Oct 29, 2026 | 6:04 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 29, 2026 | 6:04 PM
N Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons, seen with Prime Minister Modi in this file photo. (X/PMO India)
Is the Tata Group being carved up to benefit Crony No 1?
Rahul Gandhi’s pointed query on October 27 on social media came after he seemingly touched a raw nerve as far as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was concerned.
“When is Crony Number 1 going to appear in the game and which pieces of Tata is he going to get?” Rahul asked in a post on X.
The Leader of Opposition had also questioned the need for the representatives of Tata Trusts and Tata Sons to be hosted at a tea party in the wonderland that Amit Shah’s residence is turning out to be under the PM Modi dispensation. Whenever the BJP is in dire need of having its way, all roads lead to 6-A, Krishna Menon Marg.
What was the “legal and commercial matter” that required this meeting at BJP’s Solutions Central, Rahul wondered in the post addressed oddly to “Mrs Sitarama”. Incidentally, the Finance Minister too was reported to have been there.
While Elon Musk might believe that India is being run by Mukesh Ambani, we all know that Rahul Gandhi’s Crony No 1 is Gautam Adani.
Rahul has more than once accused Prime Minister Modi of favouring Adani, including saying in the Lok Sabha in February 2023 that “People used to ask us how Adani’s net worth reached $140 billion from just $8 billion between 2014 and 2022.”
“Adani is now involved in eight to 10 sectors. From Tamil Nadu, Kerala to Himachal Pradesh, we have been listening to one name everywhere — Adani. Across the entire country, it’s just ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’… people used to say to me that Adani enters any business and never fails,” Rahul had gone on to charge in his speech on February 7 that year.
The post came after the Finance Minister asked Rahul to remember that he was the Leader of the Opposition and “refrain from politicising every issue. Also, casually labelling commercial and legal matters as criminal is unacceptable.”
Her post was in response to Rahul’s allegation that “Tata is being criminally destroyed, and no business leader dares say a word”.
“How long will you stay silent? Until they own you? Indian business is not Modi and Shah’s plaything. You lack courage. We don’t. We will ensure justice for these crimes,” he went on to state.
The Tata group is seeing a battle royale over the chairmanship of Tata Sons. Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata has repeatedly questioned the decision to reappoint N Chandrasekaran.
Noel’s latest salvo against the decision came in a letter addressed to the Tata Sons company secretary, Suprakash Mukhopadhyay, on October 26, when he cited procedural irregularities in how the 4-1 resolution to reappoint N Chandrasekaran was passed by the board.
“The (September 17) resolution is void,” Noel Tata had written, insisting that it violated the relevant provisions of Tata Sons’ Articles of Association.
Interestingly, N Chandrasekaran had initially pulled out of the race before changing his mind. One of the Tata Trusts members, the TVS Motor Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan, has split from Noel Tata and is now the biggest backer of Chandrasekaran.
The London-based Financial Times had earlier noted that Chandra, as Chandrasekaran is known, and those backing him are well connected in the corridors of power in New Delhi. The business daily had quoted a person who worked under the Tata Sons boss as saying that key decisions Chandra made, including Tata’s foray into semiconductors, were “very closely associated with what the government wants to do.”
The Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the second-largest shareholder with an 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons after the Tata Trusts, is also said to be in thrall to the government, as it wants to offload and monetise its stake. Noel Tata, it must be noted, is against the stake sale.
Then there is Srinivasan, whom the Financial Times, in a separate article, had identified as the “dark horse”. The article quoted an expert as observing how nobody knew “why he was doing what he was doing” in the succession battle.
The paper, while turning the spotlight on the TVS supremo — a billionaire who is battling a family feud too these days — also highlighted his large contributions to temple restoration in Tamil Nadu and how those had drawn the RSS towards him. It made it a point to note that the Centre had honoured Srinivasan with the Padma Bhushan in 2020.
Srinivasan had always been wary of Noel and had turned against the latter after Noel tried to oust him from Tata Sons in April.
The peace meeting, if we could term it that, at the Shah residence comes at a time when these two factions are in play, and one is already government-friendly.
Harish Bhat, the brand custodian of Tata Sons, had posted three years ago, when the new Air India returned to the group’s fold, that “what is good for India is good for Tata“.
It is in keeping with the legacy of the 158-year-old group whose founder, Jamsetji Tata, had dreamt of building India’s first integrated steel plant in Jamshedpur because he believed the country needed steel. The plant came up later, on August 26, 1907.
The steel is still needed. And everyone in the group needs to see India as the country ought to be, not just as an extension of the government at the Centre. Will they?
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