Government today faced fresh attack from the Opposition on corruption when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran to answer charges that his family-owned Sun TV Network was a beneficiary of pay-offs by a Malaysian company which benefited from equity sold by Aircel.
“There are new scams in the UPA government everyday. A new scandal is on the verge of being exposed. The cupboard of corruption of the UPA is overflowing and more skeletons are dying to come out,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said reacting to a media report in this regard.
However, the Congress washed its hands of the controversy surrounding Maran, the former Telecom Minister. “If a question has been asked from the Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, obviously he will be the best person to answer it,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters in reply to a volley of questions on the issue.
Incidently, Maran had a lengthy meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. At the same time, Tewari indicated that irregularities, if any, during Maran’s tenure could be looked into by the JPC which is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Tewari is also a member of the JPC. Prasad alleged that during Maran’s tenure as Telecom Minister, there were some financial anomalies which benefited companies owned by his family.
“We know Maran’s family owns Sun TV network which also has Direct-to-Home (DTH) service. During his tenure as Telecom Minister the FDI norm was changed and the telecom sector FDI norm was increased to 74 per cent. Aircel, a telecom company which only had a licence for Tamil Nadu, later got licence for 14 new areas,” Prasad said.
The BJP alleged that 74 per cent stake in Aircel was purchased by a Malaysian company Maxis Communication when Maran was Telecom Minister.
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“Mr Maran, will you please explain if Maxis Communication company has made any investment in Sun DTH company or any other of your family-owned companies? Secondly, was this investment done through Astro Group company, which is a subsidiary of Maxis Communication?” Prasad asked. BJP also sought to know from Maran whether the investment made in Sun Network by Maxis Communication was done after the latter had bought 74 per cent equity of Aircel.
“He should also clarify if in any way a foreign investor has invested in Sun network when Maran was a minister. Is there a conflict of interest here or not? As a responsible opposition party we are raising important questions purely in national interest,” Prasad said.