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.
The father-son duo are in the radar of the probe agencies in another case concerning the Aircel-Maxis 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.
With the political class ranged against them, the civic representatives of the panel drafting the Lokpal bill face an uphill battle. Sheela Bhatt reports from New Delhi.
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".
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi's son Tamilarasu and daughter Selvi met their half-sister Kanimozhi, who has been arrested in the 2G spectrum case, at a trial court in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu Industries Minister S P Velumani has alleged that a granites firm owned by Dayanidhi Alagiri, Union Minister M K Alagiri's son, has been indulging in illegal quarrying of granite worth crores of rupees in and around Melur near Madurai.
The CBI had summoned Karti to appear before it on October 4.
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.
Chief Minister Stalin seems to have drawn a line between his personal beliefs and those of others in the family, beginning with wife Durga Stalin, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
When the team heard about Rubina's loss in the recent Bandra fire, they presented her with two cheques.
A day after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced its decision to pull out of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the party said today that its ministers would submit their resignations on Monday.
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 exercise to add the inmates' names to the electoral roll was initiated in February this year.
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.
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.
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.
Alagiri's father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, his younger brother and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, and other members of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's first family were present at the reception held under very tight security. Former Union telecom minister A Raja, who quit over the 2G spectrum scam, was seen standing near Karunanidhi for a long time, chatting with him at times
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.
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.
Stalin's sister and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi will for the first time try her luck in the Lok Sabha.
Pradip Baijal, former chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), spoke to Nivedita Mookerji on what made him write the book, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telling him to cooperate with then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, being hounded and harassed during the UPA years, questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and more.
The CBI and the ED said that new material has been recovered which needs to be collated.
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.
A three-judge bench headed sought CCBI's response on Maran's plea and questioned its decision to arrest him.
A senior employee of a private television channel was arrested in Chennai on following a complaint of sexual harassment against him by a former woman staffer, police said.
The government on Wednesday said India's textiles industry, employing over 90 million people, is likely to triple and touch $220 billion by 2020.
Protests were held across Tamil Nadu with raising of slogans-- "Vendum Vendum Kudineer Vendum" (we want water) and "Edappadi Arasai Kandikirom" (we condemn chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy's government).
Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanidhi Maran and six others, including four companies, were on Friday chargesheeted by the CBI in a special court in the Aircel-Maxis deal case arising out of the investigation in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
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.