CHENNAI: Former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who is expected to contest again from Central Chennai constituency in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, will face stiff resistance, not only from the opposition parties, but also from an “unexpected” corner.

The Arasu Cable TV operators Association, a forum comprising of about 500 members will be campaigning against him to mark their protest. They allege that he is responsible for trying to stall the Arasu Cable TV Corporation (ACTC), undertaken by the State Government.

At a press conference here on Monday, N Yuvaraj, president of the association charged that the transfer of C Uma Shankar, Chairman and Managing Director of ACTC, in January this year was the first step toward jeopardising the Corporation, which happened soon after the patch up between the Maran brothers and the Chief Minister’s family. He said, “Since then, the functioning of ACTC has come to a grinding halt. Moreover, the cable TV operators, who switched over from Sunmangali Cable Visions (SCV), managed by Sun TV group, to that of ACTC are under threat.”

In fact, cable wires of the ACTC are cut in different parts of Tamil Nadu, including, Coimbatore, Madurai and Vellore, reportedly by people from SCV, he said, while noting that despite the Arasu Cable TV operators filed complaints with police, no action has been taken against the ‘miscreants’.

Citing a recent incident, Yuvaraj claimed that an ACTC cable TV operator at Marthandam in Kanyakumari district, who was also using the signals of Sun TV was abused by a Sub-Inspector attached to the Anti-piracy cell in Tirunelveli. He said, “The Cop named Jeyachandran allegedly used unparliamentary words against the opertor and his family members for using Sun TV signals. With this the operator, Johnson had fled the State and has taken refuge in the neighbouring Kerala.”

He said, as the number of operators with ACTC has drastically declined from 10,000 to 500, the Government must come forward to provide compensation to the affected operators. “The ACTC has become unpopular among the public, due various factors such as improper maintenance of digital control rooms and reduction in channels offered by it.