Satyam chairman’s supporters launch website for damage control.
Dear Ramalinga Raju Garu, we are all with you @ any point of time. Our respects for you remain the same even today.” This is what the home page of a website – http://ramalingaraju.com/ -- launched today, says.
Satyam says neither the company nor the promoter group has anything to do with the website. “It may have been launched by supporters from Raju’s community”, a company spokesperson said, denying the buzz that this has been done by a crisis team set up by the chairman to tackle his “image issues” following the outrage over the aborted proposal to buy two promoter-related firms.
The website points to the support Raju has extended to various sections of the society and blames the media for painting a “complete untrue image about a very soft, humble, and good-natured individual”.
The website invites surfers to send a text message to 94408-88888 or upload their views directly.
When contacted, the person who responded to the number identified himself as Ramesh. He initially said he was an acquaintance of Raju, but later claimed to be a former employee of Satyam. He declined to give any further details.
An SMS (“Why did Raju have to ruin his reputation?”) sent to the mobile number mentioned on the website did not elicit a response. The five messages posted on the website are all in support of Raju -- in line with the theme of the webpage.
Even in India, companies and individuals have been using the internet, especially blogs, to not just dent the perception about rivals, but even to positively alter their own image. In the last two weeks since the Satyam board approved the proposal for India’s fourth largest software company to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, blogosphere is full of words, which are not very favourable to the Rajus.
Rama Raju Jr is one of the key promoters of Maytas Properties, which develops urban infrastructure, and has been on its board since 2005. The other son, B Teja Raju, is the vice-chairman of Maytas Infra, a 23-year old listed company engaged in infrastructure construction and asset development.
The Satyam board had to reverse its decision after institutional investors opposed the move. Since then, sour independent directors, who had approved the proposal, have resigned from the company’s board while the government and Securities and Exchange Board of India are looking into the issue. The message on the website in support of Raju (“You will always remain a hero for all of us”) ends with ‘Satyameva Jayate’, or truth may prevail.
