Lottery king Martin’s double-door entry into TN-Puducherry politics? | Powertrip #125

Welcome to this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter exclusively curated for TNM and NL subscribers by Dhanya Rajendran, Shabbir Ahmed and Pooja Prasanna.In this edition, we look at how lottery king Santiago Martin’s son is trying to plunge into Puducherry politics by winning over a few MLAs with the help of a BJP leader. With his extravagant gifts, he has managed to anger the Chief Minister who is an ally of the BJP. In the second story, we look at the two demands that Kiran Mazumdar Shaw placed before Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar. Read the full newsletter for all the details. For those who can’t access the full newsletter, get a subscription and read every Tuesday. .Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes only.Martin’s double-door entry into TN-Puducherry politics? Remember Santiago Martin? The lottery baron made national headlines last year for becoming the biggest donor through Electoral Bonds, contributing Rs 1,386 crore to various political parties. Now, his family seems to be trying new things in south India.His son, Jose Charles Martin, and son-in-law, Aadhav Arjun, are deeply involved in politics, Jose in Puducherry and Aadhav in Tamil Nadu. While Aadhav Arjun serves as the general secretary for election campaign management in actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Jose Charles Martin has been on a money-splurging spree in Puducherry over the past six months, steadily working to build his political base in the Union Territory.This Deepavali, Puducherry Chief Minister Rangasamy, ministers, and MLAs across party lines were in for a surprise when they received gifts like double-door refrigerators, hundreds of sweet boxes, and crackers from Charles Martin. The gifts triggered panic in the ruling NR Congress camp, prompting the Chief Minister to issue a diktat to party MLAs to return them.Jose Charles Martin had quietly joined the BJP in 2015 in the presence of then organising secretary Ram Madhav but failed to secure a prominent position because of his father’s chequered past and ongoing ED cases. Now, he seems determined to establish himself politically in Puducherry with open backing from BJP MLA John Kumar, who once worked with Santiago Martin as a lottery agent.Charles Martin has floated an organisation called JCM Makkal Mandram, which has been holding outreach events and distributing cash and gifts to students, locals, influencers, achievers, and sportspersons. Under the JCM banner, job fairs, award functions, and student and athlete camps are being organised, all in the name of developing Puducherry.JCM has already opened offices in 15 constituencies and plans to expand to all 30. John Kumar and his sons are said to be managing the operations, and Kumar is even willing to vacate his current seat, Kamaraj Nagar, for Charles Martin to contest in the 2026 Assembly elections.These developments have irked the NR Congress led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy, an ally of the BJP. Sources in the party told TNM that the Chief Minister has warned the BJP to rein in its MLAs supporting Charles Martin and has even threatened to pull out of the NDA alliance.Puducherry’s 30-member Assembly currently has a government led by the NR Congress with 10 MLAs, supported by 6 from the BJP and 2 Independents. But Charles Martin is believed to have the backing of more than 15 MLAs, including some Independents, and is working to win over more. Welfare activities have already begun across constituencies, like the free lunch programme at John Kumar’s office in Kamaraj Nagar, where around 450 people are fed daily. JCM plans to expand this across Puducherry.Each constituency in the Union Territory has roughly 40,000 voters, and JCM believes it can secure their support through welfare schemes and cash handouts. Charles Martin has even promised to transform Puducherry into “another Singapore.”The next step, insiders say, is to formally launch a political party and contest all 30 Assembly seats. Opposition parties, including the Congress and DMK, have dubbed JCM the BJP’s “B-team.”And those double-door fridges that caused such a stir? Sources told TNM that while a few MLAs dutifully returned them, most happily kept their Deepavali gifts..The ORR push by Kiran ShawWhen Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and entrepreneur Mohandas Pai this week, Bengaluru’s political and corporate circles took notice. The meeting came soon after both Shaw and Pai publicly criticised the city’s crumbling infrastructure, especially its roads, drawing the government’s ire.So, what really happened behind those closed doors?A source told PowerTrip that the duo used the meeting to push two long-pending demands: speeding up the Bengaluru Metro expansion and prioritising the upgradation of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project. The ORR, which houses some of India’s biggest tech parks and companies, has been in limbo for years despite being vital for the city’s mobility. Shaw and Pai reportedly told Shivakumar that completing the project on an urgent footing could ease much of Bengaluru’s chronic traffic mess.Interestingly, Shivakumar did not bring up the tweets that had angered the government. According to the source, that topic had already come up in a more private setting—when Shaw met him earlier at his residence to invite him to her nephew’s wedding.The meeting may not have been about social media barbs, but it underlined something bigger: Bengaluru’s business elite and its political class can spar online, but eventually, they always end up at the same table—talking roads, projects, and power..Zero HourA political story of public importance.Surge in anti-Indian hate should come as no surprise – it has deep, racist roots.Digital campaigns against Indians reflect white nationalist talking points and are having real-world consequences..PowermovesTop 5 political storiesAndhra Pradesh: Software flaw aids land grab from tribal and Dalit farmersKerala hijab row: How a dispute between a teen and her school became a state-wide debateNagarada Shakti: Bengaluru’s city bus that added more women to the workforceNGO alleges Tamil Nadu officials colluded to clear real estate project inside Pallikaranai marshlandHyderabad: Mob shuts down Kerala restaurant near EFLU for selling beef, FIR registered

Lottery king Martin’s double-door entry into TN-Puducherry politics? | Powertrip #125

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