Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, stating that investigation into former textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran's role in the 2G spectrum scam has not been honestly conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB), which has been named in a CBI chargesheet for alleged wrong doing in sale of Aircel, on Tuesday denied charges of using illegal means to acquire the firm from Siva Ventures and said it will pursue all legal remedies to defend itself and its officials.
One of several jokes doing the rounds these days is about the launch of a new political party, called the Tihar Munnetra Kazhagam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran's continuation in the cabinet was "untenable" in the wake of allegations that he could have indirectly benefitted from payoffs in a telecom deal.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed all Union ministers to declare their assets and liabilities and indicate their business interests.The prime minister's directions were circulated in a six-page letter to all Union ministers by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar on June 2. Dr Singh's direction comes in the wake of Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran and former telecom minister A Raja getting embroiled in the massive 2G scam.
The government is understood to have left it to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the alleged irregularities in the grant of licences to Aircel, which is owned by Maxis Telecom of Malaysia, and the involvement of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran in it.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran following reports that his family-owned Sun TV Network was a beneficiary of pay-offs by a Malaysian company, which benefited from equity sold by Aircel.
Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran has hailed the Budget proposals-2010-11 presented in Parliament on Friday. The minister said that these initiative for the textiles sector as a growth spurring initiatives , which dovetail with economic revival, infrastructure development, agriculture development, inclusive growth and restoring export growth.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it has got evidence against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Dayanidhi Maran in 2G spectrum scam and will file an FIR against him within a couple of days for various offences including showing "undue favour" shown to Aircel.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Dayanidhi Maran has not so far been given a clean chit in 2G scam case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday told the Supreme Court and objected to the allegation that its investigation in this case is "less than honest".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has removed Union Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri and Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran from two key sub-committees of the Union Cabinet. Both Alagiri and Maran are leaders of the Congress's ally DMK. In the wake of the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam, involving DMK leader and then telecom minister A Raja, the PM has been careful about allocating sensitive positions to the party's leaders.
Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran may be 'examined' soon by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with his alleged role in coercing former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran to sell his stake to a Malaysia-based group.
Mounting bad news takes a toll on Sun TV's stock, but analysts say company's fundamentals still remain strong
The exit of Dayanidhi Maran from the government has fuelled speculation of a reshuffle of the Union Cabinet early next week, possibly on Monday or Tuesday.
A well-known amateur radio operator, Dayanidhi Maran, has joined a growing list of top politicians and corporate honchos to be felled by the 2G spectrum scam in which DMK was further dealt a body blow with its two leaders already behind bars.
Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran has come under the scanner in the 2G scam probe, with the Central Bureau of Investigation telling the Supreme Court on Wednesday that he had misused his office and forced C Sivasankran, the promoter of Chennai-based Aircel, to sell his firm to Malaysia-based Maxis Communications in 2006.
Former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran has told the Central Bureau of Investigation that the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi had allegedly issued life threats forcing him to sell his firm to a Malayasia-based tycoon, a charge rejected by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader.
Sivasankran alleges Maran had forced him to sell Aircel.
The anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is currently investigating the 2G spectrum case, is also looking into allegations about the involvement of Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran in the multi-crore scam, CBI Director Amar Pratap said. "A lot of information is coming in for this particular case and we will have to sift through the allegations and try to find out whether he (Maran) favoured any particular company or not," Singh quipped.
Hours after Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary J P Naddha demanded the resignation of Dayanidhi Maran from the Union Cabinet, Naddha dashed off a letter to Central Bureau of Investigation director A P Singh, asking him to investigate various allegations against Maran in respect to issuance of license to Aircel mobile company and his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam.
The government on Tuesday faced fresh attack from the Opposition on corruption when the Bharatiya Janata Party asked Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran to answer charges that his family-owned Sun TV Network was a beneficiary of pay-offs by a Malaysian company which benefited from equity sold by Aircel.
The two parties are deadlocked over on a deal over sharing of seats following DMK's decision on Saturday to pull out its ministers from the UPA government over Congress attitude.
Talks between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders M K Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran late on Monday night appeared to have made no headway in securing a breakthrough in the stalemate on seat-sharing between the two parties for Tamil Nadu assembly polls though DMK put on hold its decision to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance government.
The Budget session of the Parliament would be adjourned sine die on March 24. The session would be resumed on May 23 and will continue till June 8.
What does Udhayanidhi's induction as minister mean? For the DMK, it indicates the future course, direction and leadership. It is continuity with change, and change with continuity, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Voicing concern over the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday sought Centre's immediate intervention to ensure relief and rehabilitation to internally displaced Tamils in the island nation.
The cash-starved Indian textile industry is of the view that the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme, or Tufs, flagship scheme of the textiles ministry, has lost its shine, as economic slowdown has put modernisation and expansion plans of companies on hold. The industry says there are more basic problems that the government needs to address.
His party colleague and successor in the telecom ministry A Raja and his relative Kanimozhi are currently in Tihar jail in connection with the scam.
Deputy Chief Miinster of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin and Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran called on the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath on Monday. They discussed political situations in Tamil Nadu.
Among the new entrants in the council headed by the Prime Minister, which will now have 147 members, are Ambika Soni, Dayanidhi Maran and Salman Khursheed have made their entry as Union Ministers while BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have come in as Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.
As Telecom Minister A Raja finally quit, speculation was rife that either party MP and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi or Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran could replace him. Though there was no official word on who would hold the Telecom portfolio, indications were available that either Kanimozhi or Maran, both from the DMK's first family, may be the next in line.
The textile ministry, in its Budget wish list, has recommended additional tax benefits and increased interest subsidy for exporters.
Ahead of the Budget 2009-10, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Friday said efforts will be made to provide fiscal relief, including service tax exemption, to textile exporters reeling under waning global demand.
Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy, is organising Crescita 2006 Abhivriddhi, a conference on managing corporate growth.
Within hours of communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran asking private cellular operators to reduce the roaming charges, Hutch on Tuesday announced 33 per cent cut in roaming airtime rates.
The government on Wednesday said India's textiles industry, employing over 90 million people, is likely to triple and touch $220 billion by 2020.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, partner in the United Progressive Alliance government, has also adopted austerity as its slogan with its Union minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday travelling by economy class of an Air India flight from Chennai to New Delhi
After Karunanidhi issued an emotional statement in the Party Organ Murasoli accusing his grand nephews and the late Union minister Murasoli Maran's sons, former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran, of turning against him and creating a wedge in the family, Dayanidhi, in a hurriedly convened press conference, regretted that the chief minister himself had levelled serious charges against them after he was misled by someone
The government on Wednesday said the technical textiles segment, which is engaged in production of the specialised variant of the commodity used by industries, may become a Rs 66,441 crore (Rs 664.41 billion) industry employing an additional three lakh workers by 2012.
Mobile phone major Sony Ericsson will manufacture mobile phones in Chennai, a top company official said ion Wednesday.