A successful civil engineer with a humble background, Mr.CL Rajam may not find a reason to run the loss-making Metro India, an English daily he launched on August 31, 2013. Reason: His hopes to become a Member of Parliament were dashed and there is pitch dark at the end of the tunnel for him.
“I am hopeful of a seat (in Rajya Sabha) as openly promised by none other than KCR,” Mr.Rajam used to tell his confidants till recently but his expectations went for a toss. The brains behind Metro India (the troika; Mr.AS Rao, Mr.S.Ramakrishna and Mr.T.Bhaskar) are no more with the newspaper and senior journalists left the newspaper as their future with Mr.Rajam looked bleak. While the Editor AS Rao joined Hindustan Times as the Senior Assistant Editor, SRK is running his own magazine and Bhaskar went back to The Hans India. A senior journalist Diwakar is heading Metro India operations with a skeletal staff from February 2016.
Mr.Rajam reportedly spent about Rs.20 crore to keep the Metro India afloat with an eye on Rajya Sabha seat. He allegedly preferred to publish his photographs in the newspaper with an illusion that political masters would take note of it. After joining the BJP too Mr.Rajam tried his best to get close to the Chief Minister but it didn’t work out.
At the peak of the Telangana movement, Mr.CL Rajam launched ‘Namaste Telangana’ on June 6, 2011 apparently at the instance of KCR. At a time when Pro-Seemandhra media was downplaying the popular movement, Namaste Telangana provided a wonderful platform for the agitators. Being the Chairman and Managing Director of the Telangana Publications Pvt. Ltd, which owned the newspaper, Mr.Rajam enjoyed political clout and he was hinted at a plumb position for his wonderful contribution. But he was forced to hand over the paper to KCR’s team on 1 July 2014 amidst a high drama. The CEO of the paper during Mr.Rajam’s regime, Mr.Kattta Sekhar Reddy, played a vital role in the transfer of management. Mr.Reddy has been the editor of Namaste Telangana ever since replacing the founding editor Mr.Allam Narayana, who was sent as the Chairman of Telangana Press Academy.
In a desperate move to retain Namaste Telangana, Mr.Rajam had joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of the Union Home Minister in New Delhi in the first week of June, 2014. “This political somersault proved to be a costly mistake committed by Mr.Rajam. He had joined in BJP in June and handed over paper to KCR men in July. No BJP leader could save him from the embarrassment. Had Mr.Rajam obliged KCR’s request to relinquish the newspaper with grace at the outset, he would have been in his good books. It might have fetched him a political position,” a journalist close to Mr.Rajam commented.
The Metro India’s website, however, claims that “after the formation of Telangana State, he (Mr.Rajam) bequeathed Namaste Telangana and focused on another publication launched by him, Metro India English News Daily. Metro India is now steadily making its presence felt among people.”
