Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Amidst a raging row over his alleged role in telecom licensing and growing demand for his resignation, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran Thursday attended a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and later slammed his detractors for the “political conspiracy” against him.

Maran, of the Congress’s ally DMK, was at a cabinet meeting for the first time since the controversy broke out over alleged licensing favours to a telecom firm when he was communications minister between 2004 and 2007.

During the day, the DMK leader slapped a legal notice on a Chennai-based newspaper for an article that claimed he misused his position to get personal favours from government-owned telecom service provider. He had earlier sued a Delhi-based magazine for a report that claimed there was a quid pro quo in the telecom licensing process he oversaw.

Meanwhile, the Congress’s core committee, attended among others by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, reviewed the situation arising out of the 2G spectrum controversy involving Maran, but decided to wait and watch, even as opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, made a pitch for the DMK minister’s sacking.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is now investigating allegations that the telecom firm’s group company invested Rs.675 crore in Dayanidhi Maran’s older brother Kalanithi Maran’s television channel, Sun TV, as a return favour for telecom rights.

Dayanidhi Maran told reporters in Chennai soon after returning from the national capital that he had done no wrong and the investment in Sun TV happened when he was in the “political wilderness”.

“I have been accused of helping someone. I have never helped anyone. Someone invested in my brother’s company when I was in political wilderness,” he said.

“If I had done any wrong, I am ready to face any punishment. I am not expecting any sympathy. I have to be judged by the law,” he said, arguing: “But if I am innocent, I should be given every right to protect myself and prove my innocence… because today, not only I am being disgraced… it is not about just my integrity, but my party’s integrity and my family’s integrity.”

The CBI, which is probing the 2G Spectrum allotment slammed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that reported a loss of over Rs.1,72,000 crore to the exchequer, is yet to file a formal case against Dayanidhi Maran on the telecom licensing matter.

“The CBI is doing an inquiry on me on a so called allegation. If a genuine person wants to invest in a business… I have no share… I have not benefited anyone. I have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Dayanidhi Maran also said there could have been an investigation against him after he resigned as communications minister in the United Progressive Alliance-I government, but nothing of this sort happened. He also noted that the CAG report had not faulted him in the 2G spectrum allocation.