Dayanidhi Maran is a well-known Indian politician born on 5th December 1966 in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. He became the member of the Parliament in India`s 14th Lok Sabha and was elected from Central Chennai Constituency. He was the Cabinet Minister of Communication and IT department of the UPA government till May 2007.

A graduate in economics from Loyola College Chennai, he is the son of late Mr. Murasoli Maran, an important leader of the DMK and the grand nephew of DMK president M.Karunanidhi. He is the younger brother of Kalanidhi Maran, the founder and managing director of Sun network, group that owns and operates largest number of satellite television channel.

Before contesting the 2004 national elections he was deeply involved and associated with the print media. In the Parliamentary election held in 2004 he contested as a candidate of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) from the Central Chennai Constituency. He won the elections by securing 61.7% of the 512,820 votes polled and won by a margin of over 1,34,000 votes and became the Cabinet Minister.

As a Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology, he brought down the rates of mobile and landline calls. In May 2007, he resigned from the post owing to certain controversies.

On a personal note, Dayanidhi Maran is a voracious reader and takes keen interests in sports. He loves playing golf, cricket and tennis.