By IANS,
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil returned to Delhi Friday after a week-long stay in Andhra Pradesh but there was no official communication from her office about the resignation of Dayanidhi Maran from the union cabinet.
Maran resigned Thursday as textiles minister in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report about his role in the 2G spectrum scam.
DMK sources said that senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet Karunanidhi Saturday to discuss the situation in the wake of Maran’s resignation which came ahead of an anticipated cabinet reshuffle.
“We were told that Pranab Mukherjee will come to Chennai to visit Kalaignar regarding the replacement for Maran in the cabinet. As of now, there is 80 percent chance that Mukherjee will meet Kalaignar,” a senior DMK leader told IANS.
Karunanidhi Friday told reporters in Chennai that he had not sent a list of candidates to replace Maran.
According to DMK sources, the names of senior party leader T.R. Baalu, A.K.S. Vijayan and spokesperson of the party T.K.S. Elangovan are doing the rounds as possible replacements for Maran and A. Raja, who had to quit the cabinet last year in connection with the alleged scam.
Raja is in jail in connection with the 2G scam.