BSNL union seeks Maran's exit, minister denies allegations

A section of the employees of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has asked for Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran's resignation over allegations that he allocated 323 BSNL connections to his brother (Kalanidhi Maran)-run Sun Television Network (Sun TV), when Maran was the Union Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology. The BSNL Union said: “This has created a loss of Rs 440 crore.”

V K Gopalan, district secretary (in-charge), National Federation of Telecommunication Employees (NFTE) – BSNL said that on June 6 the union would demonstrate against Maran, if he did not step down. NFTE is one of the three major unions of BSNL. Gopalan claimed, of the 3.5 lakh workers in the public sector unit, around 1.25 lakh workers were members of NFTE..

Meanwhile, in a legal notice to a newspaper that published a news report alleging Maran had allocated BSNL connections to Sun, the minister said: "False, scandalous and baseless allegations have been made against him". The notice quoted BSNL saying that only one BSNL connection was provided at his residence, when Maran was the telecom minister.