Clarify whether Sun TV benefited by pay-offs: BJP to Maran

May 31, 2011 |

New Delhi

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Government on Tuesday faced fresh attack from the opposition on corruption when the BJP 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.

"There are new scandals in the UPA government everyday. A new scandal is on the verge of being exposed. The cupboard of corruption of the UPA is overflowing and more skeletons are dying to come out," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said reacting to a media report in this regard.

However, Congress washed its hands off the controversy surrounding Maran, the former Telecom Minister.

"If a question has been asked from the Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, obviously he will be the best person to answer it," party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters in reply to a volley of questions on the issue.

Incidently, Maran had a lengthy meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. At the same time, Tewari indicated that irregularities, if any, during Maran's tenure could be looked into by the JPC which is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Tewari is also a member of the JPC. Prasad alleged that during Maran's tenure as Telecom Minister, there were some financial anomalies which benefited companies owned by his family.

"We know Maran's family owns Sun TV network which also has Direct-to-Home (DTH) service. During his tenure as Telecom Minister the FDI norm was changed and the telecom sector FDI norm was increased to 74 per cent. Aircel, a telecom company which only had a license for Tamil Nadu, later got license for 14 new areas," Prasad said.

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