Chennai:
DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran's resignation today evoked the same response from Jayalalithaa as it did from the BJP: too little, too late.
"This is something long overdue," she said in Chennai today. "The Prime Minister should have made him resign a long time ago."
As Chief Minister of Mr Maran's home state, she also warned that a thorough investigation will be conducted on the charges against him.
"The end of the DMK has long been decided by the Marans," declared Jayalalithaa today.
Mr Maran resigned this morning as Union Textiles Minister, 24 hours after the CBI declared that it had evidence against him in the telecom scam.
(Read: 2G scam strikes again, Maran quits) |
(Watch)Mr Maran served as Telecom Minister from 2004 to 2007. He allegedly misused his office then to force the owner of a telecom company to sell to an industrialist who was close to Mr Maran's family.
(Who is Dayanidhi Maran?)But in Chennai, the CBI has also reportedly found evidence to prove that Mr Maran ordered a virtual telephone exchange to be set up at his residence. Nearly 300 lines were connected from there to the offices of Sun TV, owned by his brother, Kalanidhi. The lines were used to transfer massive amounts of video and audio, allegedly costing the government hundreds of crores.
(Read: Another telecom controversy for DMK, this time it's Maran) This reported manipulation will be microscopically examined by Jayalalithaa's government, not least because Mr Maran has long been her political rival.