New Delhi:
A Raja has finally resigned as the Telecom Minister. He has been facing a lot of flak over the alleged 2G scam.
Forty seven-year-old Raja met Karunanidhi in Chennai twice in the last 24 hours, before flying back to Delhi and went straight to the Prime Minister's 7, Race Course Road residence to hand over his resignation letter. (
Read: Who is A Raja?)
Now the question arises: Who will DMK get to replace him?
The top contender is Rajya Sabha MP and DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi. According to sources her half-brothers - Alagiri and Stalin - are unlikely to object as she'd be the best bet to handle from within.
She herself, though, is non-committal. "I am an MP and I will continue to be an MP," she said when asked.
Then there is A K S Vijayan, a three-time MP. He's the DMK's lesser-known Dalit face.
Also doing the rounds is the name of DMK spokesman T K S Elangovan who is a Lok Sabha MP. He represents the strong Thevar community and has the backing of MK Stalin.
Finally, senior DMK leader T R Baalu is also a contender. Baalu was the shipping minister during the UPA's first term and he happens to be a trusted man of Karunanidhi. He could not be accommodated in UPA II.
However, Baalu is not in the good books of the big brothers M K Stalin and M K Alagiri.
It's a double crisis of sorts for Karunanidhi as replacing Raja with Kanimozhi could lead to criticism that the family's number in the Union Cabinet is rising from two to three. His son M K Alagiri and grandnephew Dayanidhi Maran are already Cabinet ministers.