Dayanidhi Maran (47), grandnephew of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, is waging a losing battle from Chennai Central constituency. Though he was a Union Minister in both the UPA-1 and the UPA -2, the scion of the Maran family finds himself in an embarrassing situation when asked about his ministerial tenures. The younger brother of Kalanidhi, the South Indian media moghul and owner of one of the leading private aviation companies, had to quit as Minister mid-way on both the occasions.
Maran was hand-picked by Karunanidhi for the 2004 lok Sabha elections. The constituency has been a DMK stronghold since it was carved out in 1977 and the AIADMK has never won from here. Murasoli Maran, Karunanidhi’s nephew was elected from this constituency in 1996, 1998 and 1999. Murasoli was a Union Cabinet Minister continuously since 1996 (except for a brief period in 1998-99 when the DMK was not with the NDA). With his passing away in 2003, the mantle fell on his younger son Dayanidhi, who had never ventured out to the hurly-burly world of politics. Dayanidhi was more at home partying and driving around Chennai in imported sports cars in his fleet .
The 2004 election was a landmark event in Tamil Nadu politics. Weeks before the announcement of the general elections, Karunanidhi crossed over to the Congress camp. An over confident Jayalalithaa cut off alliances with all major parties and declared that her alliance was with the people. Karunanidhi, who had lost the 2001 Assembly polls and was feeling suffocated without power, cobbled up a myriad alliance which included the Congress, the left and all other fringe groups. The result was devastating for the AIADMK which drew a blank. The DMK front walked away with all the 39 seats from Tamil Nadu and the lone seat at stake from Pudussery.
One of the surprises in that election was the landslide win registered by Dayanidhi who defeated his nearest AIADMK rival by a margin of 1,34,178 votes. The Maran sibling pocketed 61.68 per cent of the total votes polled in the Chennai Central constituency. It was a political windfall for Karunanidhi who was awarded with three important Cabinet berths by the Congress; Telecommunication and IT for Dayanidhi, Surface Transport and Shipping for Baalu and Environment and Forest for A Raja. But Dayanidhi had to quit the Government in 2007 following an intra-family fight in the Karunanidhi clan.
Neither Sonia “aunty” nor Manmohan ‘uncle” (that is how he addresses the duo) could help him when family patriarch wanted the Congress president to boot Dayanidhi out of the Government. He was declared non-grata at Gopalapuram and the DMK headquarters.
The fighting came out in the open resulting in the deaths of three employees of Dinakaran, a newspaper owned by the Marans. There were reports that the Maran brothers were out to split the DMK and merge their faction with the Congress which antagonised Karunanidhi and his sons.
It was the “War of 2007” which resulted in Karunanidhi launching Kalaignar TV, his own satellite television network. Till then the DMK and Karunanidhi family were dependent on Sun Network, the TV channels owned by the Maran brothers. The Sun TV functioned out of the DMK headquarters.
Following the “War of 2007” the Marans were asked to move out of the DMK building overnight. The next day morning people were surprised to see giant-sized billboards of Kalaignar TV at the entrance of the DMK office.
The 2009 lok Sabha election saw a major family patch following the intervention of Selvi, Karunanidhi’s glamorous daughter by Dayalu Ammal. Selvi is married to Murasoli Selvam, the younger brother of Murasoli Maran and is known for her persuasive skills. Karunanidhi, Alagiri and Stalin were persuaded by Selvi to forgive and forget all the wrongs and Dayanaidhi was back in the good books.
But the 2009 elections saw the public displeasure coming out against Dayanidhi. He had to thank his stars for just scrapping through with a majority of 33,454 votes (46.82 per cent). Though he was made a Union Cabinet Minister in 2009, Maran had to content with the Textiles Ministry.
Following the 2G spectrum scam and the revelation that Dayanidhi had set up an exclusive telephone exchange with nearly 400 ISDN lines at his house in Chennai to help the family owned Sun TV Network, he had to quit the Government again in July 2011. Dayanidhi’s name is also linked to the Rs 900 crore Aircell-Maxis deal which is under probe by the CBI.
What makes life difficult for Dayanidhi Maran is the result of the 2011 Tamil Nadu Assembly election. The Chennai Central constituency, till then a forte of the DMK, came down crumbling like a pack of cards. Karunanidhi, who has the intelligence to see the writing on the wall, decided to move out to the distant Thiruvaroor from Chepauk, till then rated as his safe constituency. Stalin, Karunanidhi’s younger son moved out to Kolathur, far away from Thousand light. The nonagenarian K Anbazhagan, general secretary of the DMK moved to Villivakkom from his traditional Harbour constituency. The 2011 Assembly elections saw the defeat of the DMK candidates in the five constituencies which together make the Chennai Central lok Sabha constituency. The local body election held in October 2011 also saw the DMK candidates biting the dust in all wards which come under Chennai Central.
The AIADMK front polled 66,280 votes more than the DMK front in the 2011 Assembly elections. “In 2009 when he approached the people there were no major corruption charges against him. But by 2011 Dayanidhi was in the news only for wrong reasons. Even school students speak about the Aircel-Maxis deal and the private telephone exchange he set up at his house with the BSNl facilities. This is like a millstone tied to his neck,” said B R Haran, political commentator.
Gokula Indira of the AIADMK , who represents the Anna Nagar Assembly constituency and who is in charge of the campaign for SR Vijaya Kumar, the party candidate, said the victory of the AIADMK is a foregone conclusion. “Vijaya Kumar has been made the party candidate not because he happens to be the son of a party bigwig. He is a dedicated worker who is accessible to all ,” Indira told The Pioneer.
Indira said the fact that the AIADMK is contesting without any alliance is not going to affect the party’s prospects in any way. “I see lot of enthusiasm among the electorate. The AIADMK Government has kept all the promises it made to the voters in 2011. The Amma Restaurants which sell subsidised food, the subsidised vegetable and fruit show rooms, quality rice being offered top the people in the BPl category will ensure the victory of our candidate,” she said.
The DMK campaign lacks focus and substance. Karunanidhi who launched his campaign from Chennai Central had nothing new to offer other than criticising Jayalalithaa. Dayanidhi too is silent on his achievements as a Union Minister since those details would be counter-productive for his electoral prospects.
“The less we speak about the kind of works done by Dayanidhi Maran for the constituency, the better. Shortage of infrastructure like roads and road overbridges could have been sorted out with centrally-sponsored programmes,” said Sunil Kumar, a Chennai businessman.
The DMK is fighting this election in the company of caste and communal outfits like Muslim league, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, PT, VCK. What stands out in the 2014 election is the fact that both the Dravidian majors have kept the Congress at bay. The Congress has fielded CD Meyyappan, a youthful leader who had been the president of Tamil Nadu Youth Congress for almost eight years. JK Raveendran of the DMDK is the National Democratic Alliance candidate. Since the DMK and the AIADMK are engaged in a direct confrontation, chances are that the others may have to fight inch by inch to stay afloat in the hustings.