Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should seek textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran’s resignation after allegations that his official decisions as telecom minister had indirectly benefited his brother’s company.
“The prime minister should ask for Dayanidhi Maran’s resignation from the Cabinet. I am sure the Prime Minister would have asked. Maran should resign and face the legal proceedings,” Jayalalithaa told reporters here.
The opposition BJP has alleged that Sun TV Network belonging to Maran’s brother Kalanithi Maran was an indirect beneficiary of the decisions taken by him during his tenure as union telecom minister. Maran held the post from May 2004 to May 2007.
According to BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad, Malaysian company Maxis Communication bought 74 per cent stake in Aircel when Maran was the telecom minister and the company was later allotted more circles to operate. Maxis Communication through its subsidiary Astro invested around Rs.600 crores in Sun DTH belonging to Sun TV Network.
The BJP alleged there is a conflict of interest in the decisions taken by Maran during his tenure as telecom minister and the subsequent investment in a company owned by his brother. A. Raja, a DMK MP, is in jail in connection with the 2G scam which relates to alleged irregularities in the allocation of spectrum to telecom companies when he was the telecom minister.
Referring to the AIADMK’s promise of adding 5,000 MW of power, Jayalalithaa said there will be improvement in the power generation front in the state.
She said when AIADMK was in power from 2001-2006, the state was surplus in power and earned revenue selling power to other states. The installed generation capacity then was 10,111 MW and the generation was at full capacity.
Jayalalithaa said everything changed when the DMK government came to power. The fall in power generation was due to large scale corruption resulting in the import of sub-standard coal, and lack of proper maintenance of power stations, she said.
She said there were allegations that power generation was brought down in order to get kickbacks from private generators while purchasing power.
“We will root out corruption in TNEB (Tamil Nadu Electricity Board),” she declared.
Asked about irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS), Jayalalithaa said: “Whenever AIADMK is in power there has never been a complaint about the PDS. It is only during the DMK government that complaints are there.”
Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK led alliance was swept into power in Tamil Nadu last month, unseating the DMK-led front.