DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran.
Credit: PTI Photo
Political Party: DMK
Parliamentary Constituency: Chennai Central, Tamil Nadu
Making the political plunge just months after his father Murasoli Maran’s death, Dayanidhi Maran’s ascension as Union Telecom Minister in UPA-I government was meteoric, courtesy to his grand uncle and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. Maran won his debut elections in 2004 from Chennai Central constituency by a wide margin and came to be known as one of the powerful ministers in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.
The suave and articulate Maran was instrumental in the then mobile phone giant Nokia making its foray into India, but his tenure was brutally cut-short in 2007, thanks to his family-owned newspaper, Dinakaran, publishing a survey that said M K Stalin was people’s choice to succeed Karunanidhi than his elder son M K Alagiri, which triggered violence.
The incident caused a vertical split in Karunanidhi’s family leading to Maran’s family being sidelined. However, the Marans patched up with the DMK in 2008 following which Maran won from Chennai Central for the second time but could only make it to low-profile textiles ministry as his political stocks were low despite his re-entry into the DMK.
After losing from Chennai Central in 2014, Maran won in 2019 and is eyeing a fourth term as MP from the same constituency.