Union Minister Murasoli Maran dead
Sunday, November 23 2003 20:25 Hrs (IST)
Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)'s pointsman at New Delhi for over four decades and
Union Minister without portfolio, Murasoli Maran, died this evening (Nov 23) in Chennai at a corporate
hospital after a prolonged illness.
Maran, an MP from 1967, was a Minister in the V P Singh Government from 1989 to 1991, in H D Deve
Gowda and I K Gujral Cabinets from 1996 to 1998 and a Minister in Vajpayee Cabinet from 1999
onwards.
Considered to be the think-tank of the DMK and conscious-keeper of his uncle and DMK president M
Karunanidhi, Maran was instrumental in forging the electoral alliances for the party.
An ideologue of the Dravidian movement, Maran convinced the DMK to be a part of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre in 1999.
It was a very assiduous task for him to convince the party cadres, which considered the BJP as
an "octopus" and preaching "communal politics".
PTI
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