Senthil Balaji Arrest LIVE Updates: Even as the Congress condemned the arrest of V Senthil Balaji, former CM and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami dubbed Tamil Nadu electricity minister’s “crying in the car” as “drama”.
“When our leader and former minister Jayakumar was arrested, he was imprisoned for 20 days. He was not even permitted to take medicines. Senthil Balaji is doing drama now. As a moral responsibility, should resign from his minister post,” Palaniswami said.
Read More: Delhi Govt to Bring One-time Settlement Scheme for Water Bills of 11.7 Lakh Consumers with Arrears
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai claimed that when MK Stalin was in the opposition and Balaji was a part of AIADMK, the chief minister too had then demanded action against the leader. Annamalai also posted an old video of Stalin speaking about Senthil’s corruption.
The BJP chief questioned whether Stalin will refute what he said about Senthil Balaji a few years ago. “A gentle reminder to Thiru @mkstalin on what he spoke a few years back about the CashForJobScam tainted Thiru Senthil Balaji. Are you going to refute this, Thiru @mkstalin? Why are you playing victim card today?” Annamalai tweeted.
Congress, meanwhile, alleged that the DMK leader’s arrest was nothing but “political harassment and vendetta” by the Modi government.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Balaji under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), making him the first minister in the M K Stalin-led government to face such action from a central agency.
Read More: Cyclone Biparjoy: IMD issues red alert for Saurashtra, Kutch coasts, warns of flood | Top points
Balaji was arrested after a long session of questioning, official sources said, even as the 48-year-old minister was admitted to a city government hospital after he complained of uneasiness. “Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress President, condemns the late-night arrest of Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji by the ED. This is nothing but political harassment and vendetta by the Modi government against those opposed to it,” the Congress said in a statement.
“None of us in the Opposition will be intimidated by such brazen moves,” it added. On Tuesday, the Congress condemned the Enforcement Directorate raids on Balaji and alleged that it was a blatant misuse of the agency against political opponents.
“These are brazen attempts of the Modi government at harassment and intimidation. Such gross misuse of investigative agencies against political opponents has been the hallmark of the Modi government,” Kharge had said in a statement.
Balaji was arrested after a long session of questioning, they said, even as the 47-year-old minister was admitted to a city government hospital after he complained of uneasiness. He underwent a coronary angiogram and was advised bypass surgery at the “earliest”.
Balaji is likely to be produced before a special court later where the agency will seek his custody. Separately, a habeus corpus petition was filed in the Madras High Court, seeking his being produced before the court.
Chief Minister Stalin, who had slammed the ED raids against Balaji on Tuesday as “intimidation politics”, met his cabinet colleague at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Omandurar Estate.
The Chief Minister stepped up his attack on the BJP over the ED arresting his cabinet colleague, as he asserted the minister will face the case legally, and so will the party. He charged the ED officials of “enacting a drama” in the name of enquiry and accused them of “physically and mentally troubling” Balaji.
The BJP state unit sought to dismiss DMK’s charge that it was resorting to vindictive action, saying the ED move was part of an ongoing investigation into the cash for jobs scam allegedly involving Balaji. The agency had launched multi-city searches in the state on Tuesday at the premises linked to the DMK’s Karur strongman as part of the probe into money laundering.
The action came months after the Supreme Court allowed a police and ED probe into an alleged cash for jobs scam against him. In the early hours of Wednesday, Balaji was hospitalised after complaining of uneasiness, DMK leaders said. State Minister P K Sekar Babu claimed there were “symptoms” that Balaji was “tortured”.
TV visuals showed Balaji feeling uneasy and crying while being brought to hospital. “He is in the ICU. He was in an unconscious state and did not respond when we called him by his name. He is under observation…there is a swelling near his ear. Doctors say there is variation in his ECG (electrocardiogram)… these are symptoms of torture,” Babu told reporters.
Balaji “underwent Coronary Angiogram at 10.40 am” today, a medical bulletin issued by the Director of the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Omandurar Estate, said. “Coronory Angiogram revealed triple vessel disease, for which CABG (Coronary artery bypass graft) – Bypass Surgery is advised at the earliest,” it said.
Meanwhile, the constituents of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) lashed out at the ruling BJP at the Centre for the ED action and announced a massive public meeting in Coimbatore on Friday to protest against it over the issue. A joint statement from SPA leaders including TNCC president K S Alagiri and state secretaries of CPI and CPI (M), R Mutharasan and K Balakrishnan, respectively and VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan slammed the “anti-people” BJP-led NDA and said it has not done anything for the people in the last nine years in office.
The saffron party was losing elections in many states and has realised it was on the way out in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and therefore was resorting to “weakening democratic forces” to see if it can emerge victorious in the hustings next year, they said. The BJP was attempting to scuttle the June 23 meeting of opposition parties in Bihar, held against its “communal, authoritarian politics and as a result vengeful action is being launched in various states using the probe agencies,” the SPA said.
Slamming Balaji and justifying the action against him, AIADMK senior leader and former minister D Jayakumar alleged irregularities in the handling of liquor stock and claimed illegal bars were being operated, resulting in loss to the exchequer.
Liquor sales in Tamil Nadu is nationalised and Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) is the retailer. Jayakumar also demanded that the ED should ascertain Balaji’s health status with the help of AIIMS doctors and initiate further legal proceedings against him.
The ED had launched searches at locations linked to Balaji at Chennai, Karur and Erode on Tuesday as part of the probe into money laundering. Balaji was earlier with the AIADMK and had been Transport Minister in the late Jayalalithaa-led Cabinet.
(with inputs from PTI)
