Ambani clan gets together to celebrate Dhirubhai's 80th birthday

In a prelude to normalisation of relationship between billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani , both the brothers and their families met on Tuesday at Chorwad, their late father's ancestral home in Gujarat.

The families flew down to Chorwad from Mumbai separately, a day prior to the 80th birth anniversary celebrations of late Dhirubhai Ambani, which will be organised on a grand scale on Wednesday, December 28. Dhirubhai's ancestral home has been converted into a memorial, according to the desire of his wife Kokilaben Ambani and it would be inaugurated on Wednesday by family guru and famous saint Rameshbhai Oza.

Kokilaben has been camping in Chorwad since Monday for the preparations and her two daughters Dipti Salgaonkar and Neena Kothari along with their families have also arrived in the village to join the celebrations.

The relatives of the Ambani family and close family friends have also joined the big event. For the well-being of the family and the reunion of the two brothers, mother Kokilaben had organised a maha pooja at the temple of goddess Chorwadi in the village on Tuesday evening.

The entire Ambani family participated in the pooja. Several thousand people from villages around Chorwad and all those who knew Dhirubhai have been invited to join the celebrations. It is after a long time that the entire Ambani family has got together.

On Monday, speaking to reporters, Kokilaben denied any rift or ill feeling between her two sons and stated that they were together. The relationship between both the brothers has not been good and the mother has been trying to work out a reunion, which would benefit both her sons. Officials from Anil's Reliance Group and Mukesh's Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) declined to comment on the significance of such a get together stating that this was a purely personal family matter.

The stock markets however, seem to have appreciated the development. The stocks of Anil Ambani-led group companies fared well and reaped handsome gains as compared to Mukesh's RIL. In the morning the gain was substantial but by the evening the stocks pared the gains due to profit booking by punters.

Despite this, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications closed with a gain of five per cent at Rs 72,90; Reliance Mediaworks was up 3.23 per cent at Rs 75.05; Reliance Broadcast up 2.60 per cent at Rs 51.35; Reliance Capital up by 0.56 per cent at Rs 252.25 and Reliance Infra up 0.54 per cent at Rs 369.20.

Reliance Power was the only group stock that closed in the red, down 2.10 per cent at Rs 72.25. In comparison, the RIL stock closed with a loss of 1.01 per cent at Rs 753.25, though it had surged during early trade.

The market has been expecting a softening of stance between the two brothers after the get together, experts said. Three years after the death of their father, the Reliance empire was divided through a family settlement in 2005. And the brothers went their separate ways since then. In 2010, after a legal battle they scrapped a noncompete agreement, which is seen as the first step towards reconciliation.

Courtesy: Mail Today