As he attended his last meeting of the Union Cabinet today, Dayanidhi Maran was downcast but gave no indication that he was going to quit soon after.
The DMK leader, who has been named by CBI in the 2G scam, was silent throughout the hour-long meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence here, according to those present.
He came a little late to the meeting which started at 11 am, they said.
"He looked sad and depressed," a minister said about Maran who attended the meeting as Textiles Minister.
He, however, left the meeting for a brief while when the issue of allowing Phase-III of FM channels came up. He said he was leaving because there was a conflict of interest.
Maran did not elaborate but was obviously conscious of the fact that his brother Kalanidhi Maran owns a media empire that includes FM channels in several languages.
He joined the meeting after discussion on this agenda was over.
Replying to questions on Maran's attendance of the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters, "Dayanidhi attended the meeting like all of us. There was no other talk from his side or about him.
After the Cabinet meeting, Maran went home where is understood to have spoken to DMK chief M Karunanidhi who advised him to put in his papers, sources said.
Soon after, Maran went back to the Prime Minister's residence, this time in his personal car, and submitted his resignation.
