A Minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet, V. Senthil Balaji, developed chest pain after an 18-hour questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a cash-for-jobs case when he was Minister from 2011 to 2015. He was rushed to the Government Omandurar Super Specialty Hospital in the early hours of June 14.
A medical bulletin issued by the hospital stated that the 47-year-old Minister underwent a coronary angiogram at 10.40 am on June 14. “Coronary angiogram revealed triple vessel disease, for which CABG-Bypass Surgery is advised at the earliest,” the bulletin added.
One hospital source confirmed that the Minister had blocks in the range of 90, 80, and 70. “He may have had a pre-existing heart condition. There is no rush for surgery, but the situation needs to be managed,” the source added.
Senthil Balaji could have developed severe vessel spasms or, possibly, angina pain. He was seen holding his chest while being pushed into the car and taken to the hospital. A coronary specialist from Apollo was summoned to the hospital, who agreed with the opinion of the government doctors.
The Minister was subjected to questioning soon after he completed his morning walk and returned to his official residence on June 13. From that time onwards, Senthil Balaji was not allowed even to freshen up, one source said. “The whole idea seems to harass and humiliate him,” the source added.
Chief Minister’s assertion
A distraught Chief Minister M.K. Stalin demanded to know why the ED tortured Minister Senthil Balaji to the extent that he developed chest pain, even when the Minister said he would fully cooperate with the investigation. “Is it really necessary for the ED officers to act in a dehumanising manner in violation of all legal provisions? DMK will not be cowed down by these threats of the BJP. The people will teach a good lesson (to the BJP) in the 2024 elections,” he tweeted. Stalin and his cabinet colleagues visited Senthil Balaji at the hospital.
Earlier, the ED had raided the Tamil Nadu Secretariat, located in Fort St. George, claiming to discover leads in a money laundering case involving the Minister. A team of five went into his room to carry out the search. ED staffers waited until Chief Minister Stalin left the secretariat to enter Fort St. George. They searched the Minister’s office, his official residence, and other buildings in Karur and Coimbatore, which they thought had links to the Minister. The Erode residence of a Tasmac truck contractor, Sachithanandam, was also searched in the raids. On May 27, the Income Tax department raided 40 places on suspicion of their connection to Senthil Balaji.
In the short time that Senthil Balaji has been with the DMK—he joined the party in 2018—he has risen in the ranks to become one of the party’s most important leaders. A former district secretary of the AIADMK from Tamil Nadu’s western Kongu region, he is critical to DMK’s success in this region, where the AIADMK is traditionally strong, and where the BJP fancies its chances. Senthil Balaji, apart from being the Minister for Electricity, also holds the lucrative Excise portfolio and is the most targeted Minister in the DMK Cabinet. He is also a key party functionary now, with most of the lower-rung party leaders reporting to him on specific issues.
The case dates back to a period when J. Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister, and Senthil Balaji was the Transport Minister in the AIADMK government. In 2014, the Chennai-based, government-run Metropolitan Transport Corporation called for applicants for the posts of drivers, conductors, junior engineers, assistant engineers, and junior tradesmen. Two people filed separate complaints of misconduct, and the Madras High Court ordered an investigation, but the Police probe did not implicate Senthil Balaji or his relatives. The case wound its way up to the Supreme Court, which has set off the current fallout.
The spin-off from the arrest
The arrest has shifted the focus away from the spat between the State’s BJP unit and the AIADMK. The latter had demanded an apology from BJP State president K. Annamalai for having spoken about AIADMK’s former general secretary Jayalalithaa in a derogatory manner. Now, the Senthil Balaji arrest has brought the BJP and the AIADMK together again on a common platform against the DMK government.
The AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami claimed that 2,000 liquor bars are being run in Tamil Nadu without following the proper tendering process. “Crores of rupees are being swindled by these unlicensed bars,” he told the media. He accused the Chief Minister of doublespeak and claimed that Stalin was not qualified to talk about human rights violations in the Senthil Balaji case.
Annamalai tweeted a video of Stalin demanding action against Senthil Balaji before he joined the DMK: “A gentle reminder to Thiru M.K. Stalin on what he spoke a few years back about the #CashForJobScam tainted Thiru Senthil Balaji. Are you going to refute this, Thiru M.K. Stalin? Why are you playing the victim card today?”
Opposition condemns arrest
Opposition political parties, led by the Congress, condemned the manner in which Senthil Balaji was arrested. “Shri 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. None of us in the Opposition will be intimidated by such brazen moves. The leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were among those who condemned the arrest.
Expressing confidence that the DMK will come out on top of this too, Dravida Kazhagam president K. Veeramani said it was the fear of defeat that has led the BJP to try and scare opposition parties.
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