After 18 hours of questioning at Senthil Balaji’s residence in Chennai, the ED arrested Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji in a money-laundering case early Wednesday morning.
This event comes months after the Supreme Court allowed a police and ED probe into an alleged cash-for-jobs scam against the DMK strongman. The ED had launched searches at locations linked to Balaji in Chennai, Karur, and Erode on Tuesday as part of a probe into money laundering.
DMK spokesperson, Saravanan, said to the Sunday Guardian, “This is clearly political vendetta. We are not saying that he is innocent. That is a matter for the court. The courts have to declare that. We are saying don’t misuse your office. Don’t threaten us. Don’t try to intimidate us. Health-wise, he has three blockages of more than 70 percent. Why do you need to arrest him? We found out that surgery is required, but the ED is opposing it. All we are saying is don’t use the ED for oblique motives.”
In response to the ED action against State Minister V. Senthil Balaji in a money laundering case, Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai said to reporters, “In 2016, when MK Stalin was the opposition leader, he went to Senthil Balaji’s house and said that Balaji is a corrupt person in this case. In 2018, after S. Balaji joined DMK, the Chief Minister said that he was innocent. In 2016, when the I-T Department raided the TN Chief Secretary’s office, MK Stalin welcomed it. Now, the Chief Minister says the ED entering the Secretariat is an affront to federalism, which is nonsensical.”
A political analyst commented, “This is the gameplay that happens across the board. Every party targets the leaders of other parties. They are critical of them all the time. But when the same leaders join their party, they suddenly get absolved. No party leader would want to openly accept that his party member or his cabinet member is corrupt. It will create a perception that the whole party is corrupt. So this type of defence is a face saver.”
Starting his political career in the DMK, Balaji joined the MDMK and later the AIADMK, becoming the transport minister in 2011. However, he lost his ministerial position and party posts in 2015. In 2018, Senthil Balaji, along with his supporters, formally rejoined the DMK, a party he had left in the year 2000.
A party insider said, “When he left the AIADMK, he was very unsatisfied with Jayalalithaa, despite once being very close to her. She even unofficially adopted him. Wherever Jayalalithaa would go, he would often congratulate her. He then later allegedly recruited youth in exchange for money. Now the political leaders are asking ‘why was he not arrested at that time? Why now?’”