Kartikeya Sharma (born 14 May 1981) is an Indian politician, entrepreneur, and media baron, currently serving as a Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament from Haryana. He won by defeating the Congress leader Ajay Maken in a highly contested election on 10 June 2022.[1] Kartikeya is the founder of ITV Media Network, which operates multiple news channels, including those in National, English, Hindi, and 7 regional languages, along with print newspapers such as the Sunday Guardian, Daily Guardian, and Aaj Samaj.[2]
Personal life
Sharma was born to politician Venod Sharma and Shakti Rani Sharma on 14 May 1981.[3] He is married to author and professor Aishwarya Sharma (daughter of Indian National Congress politician Kuldeep Sharma, former speaker of Haryana Legislative Assembly[4][5]) since 2011. On April 24, 2023, Sharma had a road accident on the Western Peripheral Expressway while returning to Gurugram from a Parshuram Jayanti program in Charkhi Dadri.[6] In accordance with his affidavit, Kartikeya Sharma declares ownership of assets exceeding Rs 387 crore.[1]
Later on, Sharma acquired, through ITV Media, English language news channel NewsX.[14][15] He entered the print media with the acquisition of The Sunday Guardian, an English language Sunday newspaper, and Aaj Samaj, a Hindi language daily newspaper.[15][16][17] He has also been involved with News Wire Services, an Indian TV news wire service.[18]
Kartikeya Sharma is the Owner of Picaadily Hotels, Which Along With Hyatt owns a Range of Properties in Delhi and Parts of Haryana and Punjab. In 2015, Sharma set up Pro Sportify with Ashish Chadha, CEO of the Sporty Solutionz, a company that runs the Pro Wrestling League.[19][20][21]
Awards
Kartikeya Sharma got the Champions of Change Award 2022. He also won the award for the Best CEO of the Year at the 2016 eNBA Awards.[22][23] He was honoured with Person Of The Year Award by the Businessworld in 2022.[24]
