# Dayanidhi Maran

Dayanidhi Murasoli Maran (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian politician and one of the prominent members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He was elected four times as a Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha from Chennai Central constituency during the 2004 general elections, 2009 general elections, 2019 general elections and 2024 elections.
He is the son of former Union Minister Murasoli Maran and the grandnephew of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and former DMK president M. Karunanidhi. He is the younger brother of Indian billionaire Kalanithi Maran, the founder, chairman and of Sun Group and of Sun Risers Hyderabad. He is married to Priya, and has a daughter and a son.
Maran has wide exposure in the fields of media, television, cable technology, political economy and management and has been a delegate at many international seminars and conferences in various countries.

## Early life

Dayanidhi Maran is the second son of ex-minister Murasoli Maran, who was the Commerce and Industrial minister of India. He is also the grandnephew of DMK president and ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. He is the younger brother of Kalanidhi Maran, the founder and managing director of Sun Network.
Maran studied at Don Bosco School, Egmore. He then graduated in Economics from Loyola College, Chennai. He also attended the "Owner/President Management Programme" (OPM) from Harvard Business School (USA). The Owner/President Management Programme is meant for business owners/founders.
Maran is married to Priya of "The Hindu" family. Priya is the daughter of Ramesh Rangarajan, Director of Kasturi & Sons, and the pair have a daughter and a son.

## Positions Held

| Period | Position |
| 14 Aug. 2024 onwards | Member of the Committee on Estimates |
| 18 Jul. 2024 onwards | Member, Business Advisory Committee |
| June 2024 | Elected to 18th Lok Sabha |
| June 2024 onwards | Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs |
| 13 Sept. 2019 onwards | Member, Standing Committee on Home Affairs |
| 24 Jul. 2019 onwards | Member, Committee on Estimates |
| May 2019 | Re-elected to 17th Lok Sabha (3rd term) |
| 31 May 2009 – 19 Jul. 2011 | Union Cabinet Minister, Textiles |
| 2009 | Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (2nd term) |
| May 2004 – 13 May 2007 | Union Cabinet Minister, Communications and Information Technology |
| 2004 | Elected to 14th Lok Sabha |

## Tenure as an MP and Union minister

He contested from Central Chennai Constituency in Tamil Nadu as a DMK party candidate and been elected thrice during the 2004, 2009 and 2019 elections as member of parliament.
During the 2004 elections, his winning margin was over 134,000 votes and he received 62% of the total votes polled. He was appointed Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology on 26 May 2004. During his tenure as IT and Telecommunication Minister the call rates of mobiles and landlines were drastically reduced which in-turn influenced the growth of subscriptions. During the tenure, he was instrumental in garnering a large amount of Foreign Direct Investments into Communication and Information Technology Sector. Many multinational telecom companies including Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Flextronics and Dell set up units in the country. His ministry introduced "One Rupee One India" plan across the country, which enabled calls across the country at a rate of 1 ₹ per minute. His ministry set and achieved a target of 250 million connections in December 2007 to December 2010, against 75 million in May 2004.
During the 2009 elections he won by a margin of 33,454 votes and he received 46.82% of the total votes polled.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, he once again contested from the Chennai Central Parliamentary Constituency, winning it for the 3rd time, polling a stunning 4,48,911 votes and defeated the other contestants with a record-breaking victory margin of 3,01,520 votes.

## Elections contested

| Year | Constituency | Party | Result | Vote % | Opposition | Opposition | Opposition |
| Year | Constituency | Party | Result | Vote % | Candidate | Party | Vote % |
| 2004 | Chennai Central | DMK | Won | 61.68 | N. Balaganga | AIADMK | 35.52 |
| 2009 | Chennai Central | DMK | Won | 46.82 | S.M.K. Mohamad Ali Jinnah | AIADMK | 41.34 |
| 2014 | Chennai Central | DMK | Lost | 36.4 | S. R. Vijayakumar | AIADMK | 42.21 |
| 2019 | Chennai Central | DMK | Won | 57.15 | S. R. Sam paul | PMK | 18.77 |
| 2024 | Chennai Central | DMK | Won | 56.56 | Vinoj | BJP | 23.12 |