The State committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded the sacking of Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran from the Cabinet and Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into allegations of acts of commission and omission when he was the Union Minister for Telecommunications between 2004 and 2007.
In a resolution adopted at the two-day meeting of the State committee of the party, which concluded here on Thursday, the party said that Mr. Maran was alleged to have been involved in various deals when he was Telecom Minister.
Tehelka magazine, it said, had revealed how he helped a conglomerate buy Aircel telecom company and also allocated 2G spectrum to the company as a result of which Sun TV, owned by his brother Kalanithi Maran, benefited to the tune of Rs.800 crore.
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Besides, the New Indian Express had revealed that Mr. Dayanidhi Maran had installed 323 phone connections of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. at his home.
The same report had pointed out that the CBI had written to the Prime Minister in this regard as early as 2007 but no action was initiated.
Based on these allegations, the CPI (M) demanded that Mr. Maran be dropped from the Union Council of Ministers. Besides, a CBI inquiry should be ordered into the alleged loss to the exchequer.
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T.K. Rangarajan, central committee member of the party, presided over the meeting. Polit Bureau member K. Varadarajan, State secretary G. Ramakrishnan, Central disciplinary committee member N. Sankariah and central committee members N. Varadarajan and U. Vasuki took part.