New Delhi, June 30: A meeting this morning between the Prime Minister and Dayanidhi Maran has set off speculation that the Union textiles minister could be on his way out.
Maran has been implicated in the 2G scandal like his jailed DMK colleagues A. Raja and Kanimozhi, and the CBI is believed to be building a case against him. Maran had been telecom minister in UPA I.
Former Aircel chief C. Sivasankaran has told the CBI that Maran “arm-twisted” him into selling his stakes to Malaysian firm Maxis Communications, after which Maxis invested nearly Rs 600 crore in the Maran family-owned Sun TV. The minister denies the charge.
Asked about the Manmohan Singh-Maran meeting, DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu said: “There is nothing to it. Maran merely shared information on his ministry.”
However, DMK sources said it was a “matter of time” before Maran resigned and that this could happen as early as next week. They said he would “clarify” his side of the 2G story before Singh, and would not quit “under a cloud of suspicion”.
The buzz is that he may go just before the upcoming cabinet shuffle, which may happen sometime after July 8, when President Pratibha Patil is to return from a trip to Hyderabad.
It could not be confirmed whether Maran had sought the appointment or whether Singh had summoned him.
Government sources said it would be “prudent” for Maran to leave on his own, implying he could be prodded or pushed if he didn’t. Congress insiders, however, suggested it might be “difficult” for Singh to force a decision on Maran in the absence of a chargesheet because the minister does not belong to the party.
If the CBI frames charges against Maran, he will have to resign, the Congress insiders said.
DMK sources confirmed that if Maran quit, the party would not stake claim to the textiles portfolio.
“We have told the Congress we do not want either telecom (earlier held by Raja) or textiles. All we are asking for is the post of another junior minister,” a DMK source said.
If Maran quits, the DMK will be left with just one cabinet minister, M.K. Alagiri, and four junior ministers: D. Napoleon, S.S. Palanimanickam, S. Gandhiselvan and S. Jagathrakshakan.
Among those pitching for the fifth junior minister’s berth are M. Karunanidhi confidant T.K.S. Elangovan, Nagapattinam MP A.K.S. Vijayan, and Helen J. Davidson. Sources rated Vijayan’s chances the “brightest” because the DMK needs a Dalit to fill the caste slot vacated by Raja.
Ahead of the cabinet shuffle, those ministers being termed “vulnerable” are M.S. Gill (statistics and programme implementation), Mallikarjun Kharge (labour), Kantilal Bhuria (tribal affairs) and Murli Deora (corporate affairs).
Bhuria has recently been appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress president, and the party feels he needs to focus on that job exclusively. If Deora is dropped, his son Milind may be made Mumbai Congress chief.
The routine talk of a “lateral movement” among the top four holding the finance, home, external affairs and defence portfolios receded a bit today after S.M. Krishna did a little PR job by handing the Prime Minister a glossy brochure listing his “achievements”.
