CHENNAI: In his 11 years as an active politician, Dayanidhi Maran was perhaps the least popular leader in the DMK. He always stood out of the party crowd for a plethora of reasons.
Apart from his attire — he was always dressed neatly like a corporate executive and in dhoti or white shirt and black trousers — in his obvious reticence to interact with the grassroots workers too, he remained a rank outsider, which explains the lack of resentment over his exit from the Union Cabinet.
Though he was popular in the media, particularly in New Delhi, in view of his eloquence, suave manners and ability to converse in fluent English — the traits that most of the other top functionaries lack — partymen resented his sudden wild card entry into the party’s higher echelons in 2004.
Dayanidhi was called in to replace the yawing gap left in the DMK by the demise of his father Murasoli Maran, a veteran DMK leader who was the party’s voice in New Delhi for decades, in 2003.
Murasoli Maran had grown up from the ranks, contributing adequately to the party’s development. He never showed an inclination to bring in his children into politics. Both his sons went to elite institutions — Don Bosco School and Loyola College — and hobnobbed with children from affluent and educated background.
But when the time came for selection of candidates for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Karunandhi surprised many by announcing Dayanidhi, the younger among the Marans, for the Chennai Central constituency.
That was the first time when Dayanidhi came out of the shadow of Kalanidhi Maran. Till then, he was only heading Sumangali Cable Vision, a cable TV network.
When the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was formed, Dayanidhi got a Cabinet berth with telecom portfolio.
So when Dinakaran, the newspaper owned by Kalanidhi Maran, published a controversial poll survey in 2007, violence erupted in Madurai. Result: Dayanidhi lost his job. He remained in the wilderness till 2009.
His rehabilitation came about only because the family of Karunanidhi’s first wife decided to patch up with the Maran family. But in the run-up to the UPA-II ministry formation, Maran played a dirty role as revealed later by the Niira Radia tapes.
Still he managed to grab a Cabinet berth. But nemesis caught up with him when Kapil Sibal, who took over the Telecom ministry from A Raja, expanded the scope of 2G scam probe by bringing all licences issued since 2001 under the scanner.