Maran to get the boot? It’s a question of when, not whether

The noose is tightening around Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran in the 2G spectrum scam and the embattled Congress-led UPA government might not wait for the cabinet reshuffle to show him the door. However, sources in the Congress said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may act polite and ease the DMK leader out during the re-jig of his cabinet, which is due shortly.

Soon after it became clear to the Congress that the continuation of Maran as Union minister is no more tenable in view of his name figuring in the CBI’s status report, its senior leaders went into a huddle. However, it’s not yet clear whether there was a decision on the minister’s fate. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, who met the prime minister, said Maran was not discussed.

Some Congress leaders are of the opinion that there is no need to act in haste since no FIR has been registered against Maran yet and it was only a status report presented by the CBI to the Supreme Court.

Maran, who was the telecom minister between February 2004 and May 2007, has come under the apex court’s scrutiny for his role in forcing Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stake in Aircel to Maxis Group, a Malaysian firm, in 2006. Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, who read the status report before the bench of Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly, said Sivasankaran was not granted UAS licence for two years. Maran forced him to sell his firm to Maxis in December 2006. The latter was granted the granted licence within six months after taking over Aircel.

Initial reports by the CBI reveal that Dayanidhi deliberately sat on Aircel’s licence application and delayed the file inspite of a unanimous vote by Department of Telecom officials. The investigating agency also said that there was “an element of coercion” in the manner in which Aircel was sold to Maxis.