New Delhi/Chennai, July 7 (IANS) Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran resigned Thursday following allegations of involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, becoming the second DMK minister after A. Raja to exit the cabinet. This puts a question mark on the southern party's future in India's ruling alliance.
Informed sources told IANS that Maran, 44, submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a cabinet meeting, ending speculation over his fate in a government eager to cleanse its image after a series of corruption allegations.
While there was no official confirmation, sources said Manmohan Singh accepted the resignation after a brief meeting with key ministers - Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and M. Veerappa Moily - as well as Attorney General Goolam E. Vahanvati.
The meeting was called to study the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) 2G status report that was filed with the Supreme Court Wednesday. The agency alleged that Maran forced telecom promoter C. Sivasankaran to sell his Aircel stake to the Malaysia-based Maxis Group, considered close to his family.
That was the proverbial last nail in the coffin for Maran, the grand nephew of DMK chief M. Karunanidhi. Maran was IT and communications minister before Raja. .
Raja quit in November 2010 and is is now lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities in allotting second generation radio wave licences to mobile phone service providers.
Karunanidhi's daughter and MP Kanimozhi is also in prison for allegedly conspiring with Raja.
In Chennai, Karunanidhi expressed support for Maran, blaming the media for his resignation.
Karunanidhi said: "The world over, more particularly in India, the rule of media exists. If they decide, they can defame anybody's name and Dayanidhi Maran is not a exception to that."
The Maran saga was just the leverage the opposition, which said Maran misused his official position when he held the telecom portfolio in 2004-07, needed against a government already battling a credibility crisis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was scathing.
"This indicates there is a lethargic attitude on the part of the prime minister. It is as if he is saying, 'Look, 7 Race Course Road falls in way to Tihar Jail, so if you are going there, or there is a charge sheet, come and have a cup of coffee with me and then submit your resignation and go to Tihar Jail'," mocked BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
The AIADMK was equally unimpressed with Maran's resignation as was the Left.
"This was long pending. He must have resigned long ago or the prime minister must have made him resign long ago," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said in Chennai.
Had the DMK, which contributes a valuable 18 MPs to the UPA's kitty of 262 in the 545-member Lok Sabha, become a burden the Congress could no longer carry?
The Congress was caught in a cleft stick, admitted several party leaders.
It was difficult to dump the DMK, which had been with the UPA since its formation in 2004, and equally tough to continue with it amid the corruption scandals and the current, unforgiving public mood.
Officially, however, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari lashed out at the opposition.
"I think that those who on a daily basis brought out lectures on morality should really look within and introspect before opening their mouths and putting both their feet into it," he said, pointedly referring to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa's alleged involvement in land scandals.
Meanwhile, a CBI official said in New Delhi that the agency will question Maran soon.
"Maran will be quizzed on the allegations levelled by Sivasankaran and on the spectrum policy changes made during his tenure," said the official.
"We are examining the money transactions of Sun TV, whose owner is Maran's brother Kalanithi and (Malaysia-based) Maxis Communications. We are also looking into takeover of Aircel by Maxis Group," said the official.
Maxis had allegedly bought 74 percent stake in Aircel and the company was later allotted more telecom circles to operate in. Maxis Communication, through its subsidiary Astro, then allegedly invested around Rs.600 crore in Sun DTH belonging to the Sun TV Network owned by Maran's family.