'Stalin afraid Senthil Balaji might reveal truth': AIADMK's jibe at Tamil Nadu CM

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin's visit to a Chennai hospital - to check-in on minister V Senthil Balaji after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate - was due to 'fear', ex-CM Edappadi Palaniswami said Friday. Palaniswami claimed Stalin is afraid Balaji may reveal 'information' that could damage the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader's political career.

"Chief minister Stalin visited Senthil Balaji at the hospital due to fear he might reveal some information to (the) Enforcement Department. Not only the CM but his ministers are also panicking due to this. If Balaji reveals the truth then Stalin's political career will be affected... you can't do anything to AIADMK [All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] workers."

Jibes at Stalin's 'fear' were also made on Wednesday by the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit boss K Annamalai, who claimed the CM got a ₹200 crore kickback for a Metro contract.

Annamalai declared that 'fear' was why Stalin had blocked the Central Bureau of Investigation from operating in the state without his government's permission.

READ | Stalin afraid he's next after Balaji: TN BJP chief on state's CBI move

TN minister arrested

V Senthil Balaji, 47, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate early Wednesday morning after 18 hours of interrogation in connection with a money laundering case.

READ | High drama as TN minister Balaji cries in pain after ED questioning - VIDEO

The electricity and excise minister, Balaji was taken to a government hospital where he was diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease and moved to the privately-run Kauvery Hospital on order from the Madras High Court and has been advised Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery.

READ | TN minister Senthil Balaji, arrested by ED, advised CABG surgery. What is it?

He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days after the ED told the court he refused to cooperate, refused to sign the arrest memo and shouted and yelled at agency officers.

Balaji's arrest has sparked a major political row in the state ahead of next year's general election, with the opposition AIADMK and its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, eager to capitalise and hit back after a resounding defeat in the 2021 Assembly election.

Why was he arrested?

Balaji was arrested over an alleged cash-for-jobs scam from when he was the transport minister; back when he was with the AIADMK and the late J Jayalalithaa was chief minister.

READ | ED arrests TN minister over alleged job-for-cash scam. What is the case?

The arrest came two weeks after the Income Tax officials conducted an eight-day raid of locations linked to the minister and his supporters. That, in turn, was after the Supreme Court overruled a 2022 Madras High Court order dismissing proceedings against Senthil Balaji.

Stalin on the attack

Stalin delivered another broadside at the AIADMK and the BJP on Thursday after Balaji claimed mental and physical torture by Enforcement Directorate officials.

The chief minister's criticisms come as he and other opposition parties have once again accused the BJP using central investigative agencies like the ED to target rival leaders.

"We are also capable of all sorts of politics. This is not a threat. It's a warning... do not rub a DMK man the wrong way. If we retaliate you will not be able to tolerate it," Stalin declared.

READ | Stalin's 2024 warning to BJP as TN CM meets Senthil Balaji at hospital

"For ten years before the BJP came to power, the ED conducted only 112 raids. After BJP came... ED has conducted 3,000 raids against those who opposed them," he claimed.

" Only 0.05 per cent of the cases are proven."

Stalin, the Congress (allies of the DMK), Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress have all slammed the ED's action as 'political vendetta'.