Back to the man of the moment -- Dayanidhi Maran. As he attended his last meeting of the Union Cabinet today, Maran was downcast but gave no indication that he was going to quit soon after, says PTI.

The DMK leader, who has been named by the CBI in the 2G scam, was silent throughout the hour-long meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence.

He arrived a little late to the meeting which started at 11 am. He, however, left the meeting for a brief while when the issue of allowing Phase-III of FM channels came up.

He said he was leaving because there was a conflict of interest. Maran did not elaborate but was obviously conscious of the fact that his brother Kalanidhi Maran owns a media empire that includes FM channels in several languages. He joined the meeting after discussion on this agenda was over.

After the Cabinet meeting, Maran went home where is understood to have spoken to DMK chief M Karunanidhi who advised him to put in his papers. Soon after, Maran went back to the Prime Minister's residence, this time in his personal car, and submitted his resignation.