Union Minister of Textiles Dayanidhi Maran resigned from Union Cabinet

New Delhi: Union Minister of Textiles Dayanidhi Maran resigned from Union Cabinet on Thursday following allegations that he arm-twisted Aircel owner C Sivasankarn to sell his 74 per cent stake to Maxis group of Malaysia. Sources have told CNN-IBN that Maran met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a routine Cabinet meeting and submitted his resignation.

The meeting between Maran and Singh at the Prime Minister's 7 Race Course Road residence in New Delhi, which was the second one on Thursday, lasted for five minutes after which he resigned. He also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Sources told CNN-IBN that Singh Sonia Gandhi spoke to DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday night about Maran. Karunanidhi reportedly gave the go ahead.

The Prime Minister also discussed the Maran's alleged role in the Aircel-Maxis deal with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati separately.

However, there is no official confirmation of Maran's resignation from the Union Cabinet.

Maran is the second Union Minister and DMK leader to step down from the Cabinet following allegations of involvement in the 2G spectrum scam after former telecom minister A Raja. Raja and DMK MP and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi have already been arrested in the 2G scam and are presently lodged in New Delhi's Tihar Jail.

According to sources, Maran recused himself from the Cabinet meeting when the FM licence issue was being discussed. Maran's Sun Network runs FM channels and it his presence would have been seen as a conflict of interest.

DMK's arch rival the AIADMK welcomed Maran's resignation.

"It's good that Maran has resigned. His stay had become untenable," said AIADMK leader V Maithreyan. "Madame Jayalalithaa will decide when the question comes of support to UPA," he replied when asked if his party would now join the Congress-led alliance at the Centre.

"Maran's resignation was expected. He should have resigned long time back. The allegations against him are serious," said CPI leader D Raja.

"The Prime Minister must explain. He is responsible for the behaviour of his MPs," he added.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its report to the Supreme Court on Wednesday implicated Maran, who was the telecom minister between 2004 and 2007, in the 2G spectrum scam saying that initial enquiry revealed that he deliberately sat on Aircel's licence application.

The DMK has neither reacted to his resignation nor the CBI's move to name him in its report on the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Initial reports revealed that Maran delayed the file in spite of unanimous recommendation from Department of Telecom (DoT) officials. The CBI's preliminary enquiry also reveals an element of coercion in Maran's dealing with Aircel.

In its report, the CBI has held the former telecom minister responsible for coercing Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran into selling his 74 per cent stake to Maxis.

Sivasankaran had earlier testified before the CBI that Maran had forced him to sell his stake in Aircel by repeatedly denying telecom licences to him. Shivasankaran eventually sold out to Maxis whose owner is reportedly close to the Maran brothers.

Maxis later invested Rs 750 crore in Maran's brother Kalanidhi Maran's company.

Former telecom secretary Nripendra Mishra also told the CBI that Maran deliberately raised questions about Aircel's sisters concerns and newspaper reports appearing about the company when it was not needed.

The CBI said that prima facie it had evidence to show that Loop Telecoms was a front company of Essar.

The premier investigation body told the Supreme Court that Essar also stood corporate guarantee for Loop when it applied for state bank of India loan.

"Essar was the group behind Loop but two days before the grant of Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) license they reduced their stake to approx 2 per cent. Also, Essar stood corporate guarantee for Loop when it applied for state bank of India loan," The CBI told the Supreme Court.

The apex court, however, observed that this did raise questions about the role of the banks in the way they granted loans.

Officials said that the CBI Investigations into telecom deal from 2001 to 2008 will be completed by the end of September, 2011.

The Supreme Court, however, expressed its reservation about retired judges giving opinion in the 2G scam and that the CBI should continue with its investigation to reach a logical conclusion.

The CBI report was immediately used by Maran's arch rival to demand his dismissal from union council of ministers. (Source: CNN-IBN)