Arnab Goswami’s new media venture ‘Republic’ funded by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, ex-Infosys director Mohandas Pai

Rajeev Chandrashekhar has invested Rs 30 crore in ARG Outlier, Indian Express reported.

New Delhi, January 13: ‘The game has just begun’ – renowned journalist Arnab Goswami said this while quitting from Times Now as Editor in Chief, last year in October. Since his resignation, there are lots of speculation about Arnab Goswami’s new media venture ‘Republic’ which he announced of launching it few days after his resignation. But there are some reports suggesting that an NDA MP in Rajya Sabha and Mohandas Pai, a former executive of Infosys are lead investors in Arnab’s new venture.

According to Indian Express report, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a member of the Rajya Sabha and vice-chairman of the NDA in Kerala, is one of the biggest investors and a director in Arnab’s upcoming venture. In Late November, the venture applied for uplinking and downlinking of a news channel. Republic will be a part of a company called ARG Outlier Media Limited where Arnab has been appointed as the Managing Director. Chandrashekhar has invested Rs 30 crore in ARG Outlier, Indian Express reported.

It has also emerged now that, Mohandas Pai, a former executive of Infosys also invested Rs 7.5 crore in the new media venture.

Earlier there were reports that Chandrashekhar identified himself as an independent MP but his association with the BJP-led NDA is no more a secret. During the Kerala Assembly Elections in May last year, Chandrashekhar actively campaigned for the BJP.

In 2016, Chandrashekhar’s ‘independence’ came under intense scrutiny when an email sent by Amit Gupta, the CEO of Jupiter Capital, was leaked to media. Chandrasekhar owns his media ventures that include Asianet in Kerala and Suvarna News and Kannada Prabha in Karnataka.

In his leaked email, Gupta meant for editorial staff of media outlets owned by Chandrasekhar had said that “all editorial talent to be hired” should be “right of centre in his/her editorial tonality,” “pro-India and pro-Military,” and they must be “well familiarised with his thoughts on nationalism and governance.”

Mohandas Pai is also known as the outspoken supporter of the BJP and its Hindutva ideologies. Also, his twitter timeline is replete with posts supporting the ideologies of the saffron party. Mohandas Pai was also a frequent guest on Times Now programme, Newshour, which was hosted by Arnab.