Dayanidhi Maran quits

PTI

New Delhi, 08 July 2011: Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Thursday resigned from the Union Cabinet.

 

Mr. Maran met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a Cabinet meeting and tendered his resignation following a word from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M. Karunanidhi, highly-placed sources said.

 

The Central Bureau of Investigation in its status report on the 2G scam case on Wednesday, charged him with “forcing” Chennai-based telecom promoter C. Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in his company Aircel to a Malaysian firm in 2006 during his tenure as Telecom Minister in UPA-I.

 

Neither Mr. Dayanidhi Maran talked to the media nor was there any official word on his resignation, a second for him, who had earlier quit in May 2007.

 

Karunanidhi defends Maran

 

Mr. Dayanidhi Maran’s grand uncle Mr. Karunanidhi said in Chennai that it was the media which was ruling the country now and it can defame anyone. “Dayanidhi Maran is no exception (to this).”

 

He said the party will stand by Mr. Dayanidhi Maran and that none from UPA — either the Prime Minister or UPA chief Sonia Gandhi — called him regarding Mr. Dayanidhi Maran’s resignation.

 

“It is your imagination,” he shot back when asked whether he has written to Dr. Singh seeking removal of Mr. Dayanidhi Maran and inclusion of DMK Parliamentary Party leader T.R. Baalu and some others in the proposed reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers.

 

It was business as usual for Mr. Dayanidhi Maran in the morning as he attended the Cabinet meeting during which he abstained himself for a brief while when the issue of licence for FM channels came up.

 

He kept himself away on account of conflict of interest because his brother Kalanidhi Maran runs a media empire that includes FM channels in various languages.

 

With this, Maran becomes the second DMK minister to step down for alleged involvement in 2G scam. Former Telecom Minister A Raja resigned in November 2010 when the CAG indicted him in the scam.