NEW DELHI: Under intense political pressure from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and from the BJP and the Left in the Centre, a nervous Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday claimed that his brother Kalanidhi Maran’s company, Sun TV Network, never “directly or indirectly” made benefits during his tenure as Telecom Minister in UPA-I Cabinet. He also denied owning any share in the Sun TV.It was following a one-toone meeting with the Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal that the DMK Minister came out with this categorical denial.He said: “I vouch that during my tenure as Minister of Communications, I was totally impartial in taking decisions and I favoured no company over others.” However, his statement may neither help divert the opposition attack nor deflect the CBI inquiry on the allegations that have surfaced against him and the Sun TV Network.But, his angry denials are unlikely to have any impact on the Supreme Court-monitored probe being conducted by the CBI, which indicated that it has not been taken by surprise and “these are not new revelations”.“The SC has directed to extend the scope of the probe and also focus on the period preceding former Telecom Minister A Raja’s tenure.We’ll, therefore, have to call him for interrogation when we complete the preliminary investigation already underway,” a high-level source in the CBI said.The investigating agency hinted that the CBI-ED team that went to Mauritius have “obtained some paper trail” that could shed light on the alleged transaction that could put the Maran family in trouble. It’s not just the CBI which is on Maran’s hottrail, but also the Joint Parliamentary Committee. JPC member and senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury asked the panel chairman, P C Chacko to circulate a letter which he had written to Manmohan Singh-way back in February 2008-pointing towards these irregularities and alleging payoff by an overseas company to Sun TV DTH. Yechury said that the CAG of this period had highlighted that “the entire allocation of 2G spectrum in January 2008 lacked transparency and objectivity”.Maran was the Telecom Minister during this period.So, there’s no way that he can escape cross-examination.
Comments
0 comment