Chennai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has chosen to distance itself from the ongoing tussle between Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the state’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led government over the dismissal of minister V Senthil Balaji, party leaders aware of the matter said.
The governor’s actions and remarks seemingly against the ruling DMK in the state has actually put the BJP on the back foot in Tamil Nadu. In the past one week, Ravi has retracted two of his decisions- 1. refusing to reallocate portfolios of Balaji and 2. putting the minister’s dismissal on hold, after being advised by the Union home minister Amit Shah to consult the Attorney General.
“While the questions should be against the DMK- why is the chief minister supporting Senthil Balaji? Where is his brother? But the governor’s actions have turned the focus on whether what he [the governor] is doing is right or wrong,” said a BJP leader.
The BJP and its ally All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) had urged the governor to convince chief minister MK Stalin to remove Balaji, after he was raided by the Income-Tax department in May. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the Tamil Nadu minister, and arrested him on June 14. “We, as political parties, have the right to demand his removal but actually removing him is hastily done.”
BJP has stayed away from hardcore Hindutva in the state and instead appealed to the sensibilities of language, culture to get a foothold in the southern Dravidian state.
In this scenario, the governor’s unilateral “dismissal” of a sitting minister plays into the criticism by DMK and non-BJP leaders that governors such as Ravi serve as agents of the Union government. “With such actions, the impression is that Delhi is telling the governor to target the DMK,” said retired justice K Chandru.
Though several BJP leaders hailed the governor for dismissing Balaji on June 19, the Constitution states that the governor has no such powers.
The BJP state president K Annamalai, on June 30, announced that the party does not want to get into that the governor has power to remove a minister from the cabinet, in refernce to the dismissal of “cash for jobs scam” minister Balaji. But called out the chief minister for double speak on the issue.
In 2018, the then-opposition leader Stalin demanded that Balaji–who was then with AIADMK– be sacked by the then governor due to allegations of corruption, said Annamalai asking that what has changed now.
ED has arrested Balaji now on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2014 when he was transport minister in the AIADMK before he moved to the DMK in 2018.
But, the narrative seems to have changed. The governor’s actions has drawn the ire of the parties opposed to the BJP in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Besides DMK’s ally Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal have condemned the governor’s “dismissal”.
Balaji, who held the two portfolios of electricity and prohibition and excise, was arrested by ED on June 14 under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).
On the day of his arrest, he had dramatically collapsed, undergoing a beating heart coronary artery bypass in Chennai’s Kauvery hospital and is still recuperating in the hospital.
Citing his health, Stalin reallocated his two portfolios- with Thennarasu additionally handling the electricity department and retained Balaji in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
Meanwhile, Annamalai will go on his ‘padyatra’ on July 28 with a slogan “En Mann, En Makkal”, which means, “My Land, My People,” aimed at spreading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s achievements over the past 9-years and against the DMK-led government in the state.
