Good that Maran resigned, now arrest him: AIADMK

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The AIADMK Thursday welcomed that Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded filing of a charge sheet against him and his arrest.

"It is good that Maran has resigned now, the earlier the better. Now, the law should take its course, fast. The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) should investigate on a fast track, file a charge sheet and arrest him," V. Maitreyan, AIADMK MP, told IANS.

Maran, the second DMK leader to lose a cabinet post over the scam, is learnt to have submitted his resignation to the prime minister after attending what turned out to be his last cabinet meeting as a union minister, sources said.

Political commentator Cho Ramaswamy, reacting to Maran's resignation, said: "It is better late than never."

"The DMK will continue with the Congress...meanwhile the Congress wants the DMK to quit (their alliance) on its own," Cho told IANS.

He also added that the DMK will not shed any tears for Maran. The party has abandoned him as senior DMK leaders believe that he was the reason for the trouble faced by party MP Kanmizohi and party leader and former communications minister Andimuthu Raja.

Maran's successor as communications minister, Raja quit in November 2010 and was jailed for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities in allotting second generation (2G) radio wave licences to mobile phone service providers.

Kanimozhi, named as co-conspirator in the radio wave licences' allotment scam, is now lodged in the Tihar jail in Delhi after her bail pleas were rejected.

According to sources, Maran submitted his resignation a day after the CBI alleged that during his tenure as telecom minister he forced telecom firm promoter C. Sivasankaran to sell his Aircel stake to the Maxis Group considered close to his family.

Maitreyan said that Maran should also follow Kanimozhi and Raja to jail.

"The allegations are not against any Tom, Dick and Harry...it is a serious allegation of a union minister misusing his capacity. If real things should come out of spectrum allocations, (Dayanidhi) Maran should be arrested," Maitreyan said.