Chennai:
A day after Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa demanded the resignation of Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran's resignation over the 2G spectrum scam, his party, the DMK, today lashed out at her.
Backing Mr Maran, the DMK said that if the AIADMK supremo didn't resign to face charges of graft in court, there was no need for the minister to do so.
The DMK's reaction came a day after sources told NDTV that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will question Maran - a former Telecom Minister - over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
(Read: CBI to question Maran over alleged role in 2G scam)The allegation against Maran is that Aircel, previously denied a telecom licence for over two years between 2006-08, was finally given one after its owners changed hands to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2008. The charge is that Maran cleared the decks only after a sister company of Maxis invested Rs 800 crore in the Maran family-owned Sun TV, which the BJP calls a conflict of interest.
But the former Telecom Minister denied all allegations. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr Maran said, "I own no shares or any interest in Sun Direct TV or Astro. I was not even a minister when Astro invested in Sun Direct TV." Mr Maran met Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal before he issued the statement. (Full text of Dayanidhi Maran's statement)
The DMK leader has rubbished the charges of corruption and said he did not favour any operator when he was the Telecom Minister between 2004 and 2008.