CHENNAI: On May 13, 2004, Dayanidhi Maran was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha, and later appointed Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology.

Mr. Maran contested the Central Chennai constituency in the 2004 elections as a DMK candidate, a constituency previously represented by his father and late Union Minister Murasoli Maran. He became a first-time Parliamentarian by securing 61.7 per cent of the 5.12 lakh votes polled, winning by a margin of over 1.34 lakh votes.

He took charge of the Communications and IT portfolio with effect from May 26, 2004.

Before his entry into politics, Mr. Maran was involved in managing the Sun television channel network, owned by his elder brother Kalanithi Maran. He was in charge of the Tamil magazine Kungumam, and multisystem operator Sumangali Cable Vision.

In his three years in the Union Cabinet, Mr. Maran was seen as the DMK's inside man in national politics, a role which once belonged to his father.

One of his achievements as Communications Minister is probably the implementation of BSNL's One India tariff scheme in February 2006, which brought national long distance calling rates down to a flat one rupee.

Heart in Chennai

Mr. Maran was seen in Chennai quite as often as in the national capital. Days after taking over as a Union Minister, he made his priorities clear:

"I have my heart in Chennai. I should not forget where I am coming from. I am from Tamil Nadu and I am from Chennai. I have to make sure that I do something for those people who have elected me. I have to give something in return."

During his tenure many multinational technology majors, notably Nokia, Flextronics, Samsung, Motorola and Dell, have located their facilities in Tamil Nadu.

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