Corruption: Another UPA head rolls

2G: Maran quits Cabinet after CBIs dirt,DMK in no hurry to name replacement.

Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran became the second minister to resign from the UPA 2 cabinet in less than eight months,driven out of office by persistent charges of corruption.

Marans continuance in the council of ministers had been put into grave doubt after the CBI hinted yesterday at his role in forcing a Chennai-based telecom promoter to sell his stake in Aircel to a Malaysian firm in 2006,when he was telecom minister in UPA 1. A Raja,also a former telecom minister,resigned last November.

Sources in Marans party DMK said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed to the party leadership this morning that Maran would have to go. Senior DMK leader T R Baalu,who met Singh,passed the message on to DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai,who then advised Maran to put in his papers,the sources said.

As DMK leaders flocked to his 6 Akbar Road home,Maran,45,went incommunicado.

Over the last month,he had consistently denied reports that he forced Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stake to Malaysia-based Maxis.

On Wednesday,the CBI without taking Marans name informed the Supreme Court that Sivasankaran was indeed forced to sell his shares after he was denied UAS licence for two years. It said that initial inquiries had revealed that the then telecom minister Maran delayed the decision on Aircels application for several months.

However,within months of Sivasankaran transferring his shares to Maxis,Aircel got the licence,the CBI said. The alleged quid pro quo was that Maxis,through its subsidiary Astro,invested around Rs 600 crore in Sun Direct,part of the Sun TV network owned by Marans family,in 2007.

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Maran admitted last month that Astro had indeed invested in Sun Direct,but only after he had ceased to be telecom minister.

DMK sources said the party may not immediately suggest a replacement for Maran in the textiles ministry. There is a view in the DMK that it should ask for two new ministries. Among the likely replacements for Maran and Raja in the ministry are Baalu,A K S Vijayan and T K S Elangovan.