'Marans thought highly of themselves'

New Delhi: Union IT and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran resigned from the Union Cabinet on Sunday night hours after a high-level committee of the party decided to withdraw him from the Union Cabinet.

The DMK took the action against Maran for violating party discipline and bringing defame to it.

The party had also issued a show-cause notice to him, asking him to explain why he should not be expelled from the party.

The action against Maran, the 41-year-old son of late Murasoli Maran and Karunanidhi's nephew, came after the crucial party meeting, which was held in the backdrop of a family feud.

“The Marans estimated their media strength and the power of money rather very high. And this is the result. They not only thought that they could take on Karunanidhi’s sons, but also Karunanidhi himself. They ought to have stopped the publication when Karunanidhi asked them to. It’s obvious that he has been hurt by the behaviour of the Marans,” political analyst, Cho Ramaswamy said.

When asked if this was a private battle that has now come out in the public domain, Ramaswamy said, “Dayanidhi Maran was no contender at all. Stalin’s position as successor to Karunanidhi has been accepted in the party. It is known to the media. But he, with the recent popularity and publicity, thought he could create confusion about the succession with his media.”

The crisis had its roots in an opinion poll on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's possible successors, published in the daily Dinakaran, which is owned by Dayanidhi's brother and media magnate Kalanidhi Maran.

So is the party’s decision as much as indication of the succession battle as it is about Karunanidhi actually saying that he is in command?

“Even when Murasoli Maran was alive, there was no doubt as to who was the number one man in the DMK. I think Dayanidhi Maran had stepped onto too many toes within the party in the short while that he was a Union Minister,” political analyst V Krishna Anant said.

Anant added that the paper published the survey, which claimed that 70 per cent of the people favoured the Karunanidhi’s younger son M K Stalin as his political heir while only two per cent pitched for Azhagiri, despite Karunanidhi's strong disapproval and the fact that the Marans went ahead with it shows that they were growing too big.

“Things were very clear that Dayanidhi Maran had to go and almost everybody in the DMK was waiting for an occasion cry their acts,” Anant said.

When asked if the script for Dayanidhi’s removal was written with the Madurai incident, Anant said, “I think it was written even earlier when Dinakaran published a survey on who is the most popular Union Minister where Dayanidhi was on top and Ambumani Ramdoss at the bottom. This was not only ruffling feathers inside the DMK, but also DMK alliance, PMK. Karunanidhi then stood up in the assembly and said that such opinion polls were unwarranted and should not be published.”

Sunday’s high-level administrative meeting atleast gives the impression that this really was a unanimous decision. But are there divisions within the DMK too or could be regarding this issue?

“No. DMK has been a party where Karunanidhi has been the most supreme leader. Thirteen years back when there was a split with the Vaiko actually walking out with some section of the organisation. I don’t think Dayanidhi Maran was an organisation man in any description and in that sense there could not have been a split at all,” Anant said.