Union IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Sunday sent in his resignation from the Cabinet to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hours after the DMK decided to get him sacked, sources close to him said.
Mr Maran, who is in Udhagamandalam, spoke to the prime minister and put in his papers after the DMK administrative committee, the highest policy-making body, authorised Chief Minister and party president M Karunanidhi to get him removed from the Union Cabinet for “anti-party activities”.
A resolution adopted by the high-power administrative committee after a two-hour meeting at DMK headquarters also said disciplinary action should be taken against him and a show-cause notice should be served as to why he should not be removed from the party and “other posts”.
Since Mr Maran, the grand-nephew of Mr Karunanidhi, does not hold any party post, the reference to “other posts” was presumed to be his membership of Lok Sabha which he won on DMK ticket.
The resolution said Mr Maran had of late undermined party discipline and tarnished its image through his approach and actions. It condoled the death of three employees of Dinakaran newspaper in the May 9 arson incident at its office in Madurai.
Mr Karunanidhi, who presided, did not meet the press. The party authorised Mr Karunanidhi and general secretary K Anbazhagan to take necessary steps to get Mr Maran dropped from the Union Cabinet. The resolution did not explain in what way Mr Maran had brought disrepute to the party.
The proposed action was a sequel to the two surveys done by Dinakaran, one on the performance of Union ministers from Tamil Nadu and another on who should succeed Mr Karunanidhi as party leader.

Best performer
The first survey, which put Mr Maran as the best performer above even Mr P Chidambaram and ranked Health Minister R Anbumani fourth, incurred the wrath of his father and PMK founder S Ramadoss. Mr Karunanidhi then took up the issue with the management of Dinakaran run by Mr Maran’s elder brother Mr Kalanidhi who also owns Sun TV. He also came out with a statement saying such unnecessary surveys needlessly ruffled the feathers of allies.
When Dinakaran decided to go ahead with the second survey relating to succession in DMK, Mr Karunanidhi tried in vain to stop it. This defiance was seen by Mr Karunanidhi as a challenge to his authority and the survey on his successor when he was very much alive was considered adding insult to injury, according to party insiders.
The survey, which showed Mr Karunanidhi’s eldest son Azhagiri in poor light, sparked a violent attack on Dinakaran office in Madurai by his supporters in which three employees died.

Criticising survey
Mr Karunanidhi, while announcing a CBI enquiry into the incident, clearly indicated where his sympathies lie by not condemning the violence while criticising the survey in his statement in the Assembly.
He got Mr Azhagiri to Chennai to attend the function organised to felicitate him on the golden jubilee of his service as a legislator.
Mr Azhagiri, who flew to Chennai, was escorted from the tarmac itself by a top police officer, which was in a clear breach of security.
He was taken to the venue of the meeting where tight security was in place in view of the expected participation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mr Azhagiri also attended as a visitor yet another function in the State Assembly the next day in which Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee felicitated Mr Karunanidhi.
Mr Maran, on the other hand, could not meet Mr Karunanidhi nor was he present at the felicitation function.