From India Today to India TV, Zee goes all guns blazing against top media owners

“We want to ask the owners of all those news channels on what basis did they give the NDA more than 400…on what basis did they project less than 200 for INDIA?” asked anchor Pratyush Khare, hosting a show along with Shobhna Yadav, at 4.37 pm on Tuesday.

First came the questions for India TV owner Rajat Sharma.

“Was an exit poll shown on the directions of a big stock market investor? Who is responsible if lakhs are unable to feed their family? Did you show an exit poll like this because Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister got you money after you left Zee News to launch India TV? There is a rumour that PM Modi was upset with you a few years ago and a Mumbai-based businessman had helped mend your relations with him on the directions of the late Arun Jaitley.

Then came News24 owner Anuradha Prasad’s turn.

“Did you run such an exit poll on the directions of your husband Rajeev Shukla? Rajeev Shukla is the BCCI vice-president while home minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah is the secretary. Was it because of this BCCI friendship that a wrong exit poll was shown?”

Then came the allegations against ABP owner Atideb Sarkar.

“Some days ago, an editor who you had sacked was recruited by your organisation. Was the exit poll run on his direction? Advertisers were told by the system not to give you ads. Did you do this to bring back those advertisers? Who will compensate for the loss of crores of hard-earned money?”

This was followed by accusations against India Today group’s owner Aroon Purie.

“Did he not know that the exit polls will impact the public?”

The ticker asked whether Purie was “unaware” that the exit poll will have an effect on the share market. “Did India Today executive editor Kallie Purie not know?”