Tehelka campaigns for new innings

BANGALORE: More than two years after Tehelka exposed the corruption and sleaze in defence deals, the website is ready to launch a weekly newspaper.
Tehelka editor-in-chief, Tarun J. Tejpal was in Bangalore to launch a mass campaign to raise subscriptions for the weekly magazine — Tehelka-The People''s Paper.
"After the Tehelka expose, people have been reluctant to be associated with us, probably because of fear.The expose was to drive home the basic principle of accountability in a democracy. Things have been tough after the expose. My company''s debt has spiralled to Rs 5 crore. But we haven''t closed down, run away or begged for mercy. I still stand by my story," Tejpal stated.
The news magazine to launched by October-end, will be "aggressively independent with no affiliation to any political party or business house, transparent, ethical and investigative''''. The biggest challenge for Tehelka has been to find those willing to align with it, Tejpal says.
"The campaign for subscriptions will move to Mumbai and then go on to Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh,'''' Tejpal added.
Once the English version of the ''offline'' Tehelka finds success, the company plans to launch the news magazine in other regional languages beginning with Hindi. Asked about the kind of ''investigation'' Tehelka-The People''s Paper will undertake, Tejpal said: "I do not want it to become a bomb factory. I see it as a solid stable platform and plan to refine other areas of interest such as art and music."
When asked to comment on defence minister George Fernandes, Tejpal said: "I have no opinion about George. I have never met him. Even after the Tehelka tapes, I have never said a word about him. Even if there was another party in power, the outcome of the investigations would have still remained the same. It shows the malaise in the system.''''
In Bangalore, Tehelka has the support of Jnanpith awardees Girish Karnad and U.R. Ananthamurthy and also film director M.S. Sathyu. "What Tehelka exposed is a shameful thing. We are here now to give them the necessary moral support to go on," said Karnad.