Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran needn't have to wait till the cabinet reshuffle. The DMK MP has tendered his resignation to the Prime Minister today. After A Raja, Kanimozhi, Maran is the next victim in the multi-crore 2G scam. The DMK minister was under pressure to quit after CBI accused former Telecom Minister of forcing the promoter of Chennai-based telecom company Aircel to sell his firm to a Malaysian company in 2006. Dayanidhi's ex telecom secretary Nripendra Mishra has told the CBI that Maran targeted Aircel to help his brother's company Sun TV.
The CBI in its 71-page fresh status report about the 2G scam told the Supreme Court that during 2004-07 when Maran was telecom Minister, a Chennai -based telecom promoter (Sivasankaran) was forced to sell the stake in Aircel to a Malaysian firm.
The CBI also said that there did seem to be "an element of coercion" in the manner in which Aircel was sold to Ananda Krishnan's Maxis Empire.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's UPA government was also under immense pressure to sack him. Opposition leaders echoed that the former telecom minister was one of the key persons responsible for the multi-crore 2G scam. Karunanidhi's bete noir and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said, "There is no use in expecting Dayanidhi Maran to take moral responsibility and resign. It is high time that the Prime Minister dropped him from the Union Council of Ministers."
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK patriarch Karunanidhi who is already sulking over his dear daughter Kanimozhi's arrest and the poll debacle, now must deal with the Marans too. What 's worse, he hasn't even had a good run at the centre in the last couple of months.
Related: Timeline of the 2G Scam
Minister Dayanidhi Maran may be sacked (We had said this a month ago)
It is just not the 2G scam that is troubling the Maran brothers. An article in the Indian Express says that "The former telecom minister got the BSNL to connect 323 telephone lines to his home, not in Delhi where he had work, but in Chennai where he had none. He got all the 323 home lines listed not in his name but in the name of the Chief General Manager BSNL Chennai". Looks like Miss Jayalalitha doesn't need to do much to go against the DMK family members. Commenting on this allegation she said, "I have seen the report. I will go back to Chennai, examine the matter and then take appropriate action."
Moreover, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is ensuring that the family-run business is shut down. As soon as she became the Chief Minister, Jayalalitha ensured that the state run Arasu Cable Television was revived. But why would a party, which won on an anti-corruption plank, list the nationalisation of cable distribution as one of its major goals? The answer is simple. Sumangali Cable Television (SCV) is the base for the Maran Empire. SCV determines placement of its own channels vis-a -vis competitors. All Sun channels are placed in the prime band. Presence in the prime band, coupled with strong content, has helped Sun TV notch up unbelievable viewership numbers.
The 2G scam, arrest of Sun TV and close Maran aide Saxena hasn't gone well with the share holders. Sun TV stocks have been battered in the markets in the last couple of months. Dayanidhi may be arrested; he might lose his cabinet seat; but iirespective of his fate, the DMK family, going through a bad patch, needs to come clean if it wants to come back at the national level.
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