Hours after Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, 47, was hospitalised following his arrest over money laundering charges, chief minister MK Stalin on Wednesday rushed to see him in hospital. At least 15 state ministers have also visited Balaji at the hospital, underscoring his continuing clout five years after he rejoined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) after quitting its arch-rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
A DMK leader, who did not wish to be named, said Balaji’s importance stems from his strength in western Tamil Nadu, where he comes from. His native Karur is considered an AIADMK stronghold. “And he is a hardworking minister and party worker,” the DMK leader said. He claimed Balaji was being targeted because DMK got “100% results” in the 2021 assembly elections in Coimbatore and Karur, where Balaji was in charge of the party’s campaign. “Balaji was brought back into the DMK to strengthen the party in the west. AIADMK and the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] are trying to weaken him in the region now.”
The allegations against Balaji date back to 2011-15 when he was the transport minister in the previous AIADMK government. Crores of rupees were allegedly taken from candidates in return for promised jobs. Many candidates did not get jobs despite allegedly paying bribes.
Balaji, a loyalist of AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, refused to shave his beard when she was convicted of corruption and forced to resign as the chief minister in 2014. Balaji lit over 100,000 terracotta lamps at a temple ahead of the verdict on Jayalalitha’s appeal against her conviction in 2015. He tonsured and carried a firepot on his head when Jayalalitha was acquitted in 2015. Jayalalithaa, however, sacked him as the minister and AIADMK’s Karur district secretary a few months later.
Balaji, who quit AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016, was among the 18 AIADMK lawmakers disqualified for rebelling against then-chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami.
Balaji joined TTV Dhinakaran-led AIADMK breakaway faction as the organising secretary before he returned to DMK in 2018 almost two decades after starting his political career in 2000 with the party. He was given key portfolios of electricity and excise when DMK returned to power in 2021 even as he rejoined the party just three years earlier. He was also given the post of DMK Kaur district secretary.
Balaji was hospitalised after over 19 hours of questioning and admitted to an Intensive Care Unit with doctors treating him saying get needed immediate bypass surgery.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Balaji hours after Stalin slammed the BJP’s “backdoor tactics” against its political opponents. It launched raids at premises linked to Balaji as part of its probe against him in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai, Karur, and Erode on Tuesday.
Balaji’s official residence in Chennai and his office at the state secretariat were among the premises raided. His ministerial colleague P K Sekar Babu cited symptoms and said they suggested Balaji was tortured.
DMK leader R S Bharathi wondered whether ED was targeting Balaji since there was a power cut for 15 minutes when Union home minister Amit Shah was at the Chennai airport on June 10. He linked the raids to Shah’s visit to the state and added they have an ulterior motive. Bharathi called the raids also a diversionary tactic since the BJP’s ally AIADMK was threatening to break the alliance.
