BS People: Dayanidhi Maran

Accused of favouring Maxis in 2G allocation

Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran, 44, a Harvard Business School alumnus, was appointed Union Minister for Communications and IT in May 2004. It has been alleged that he favoured the Malaysian company Maxis while granting telecom licences. Maxis later invested Rs 600 crore for a 20 per cent stake in Sun Direct, owned by Maran’s elder brother Kalanithi Maran.

Aircel founder and Sterling group Chairman C Sivasankaran’s told the CBI last week that Maran had “coerced” him into selling his stake to Maxis. Maran has denied this. Maxis bought Aircel for $800 million in 2005.

The other issue that has created controversy is the allotment of 323 BSNL connections Kalanithi Maran’s Sun TV, during his tenure as the Union telecom minister. The unions have claimed that the potential loss to BSNL is around Rs 440 crore.

Last week, Karunanidhi said that “he (Maran) will defend himself.” Political analysts say this could be an indication that “it could be the end of the road in politics for the 44-year-old Maran”.