Chennai/New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate arrested Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji last week, setting off a dramatic chain of events which saw the key member of CM MK Stalin’s team complaining of chest pain and being admitted to a government hospital. DMK accused BJP of political intimidation and the latter hit back, with the reminder that the CM had also once demanded Balaji’s arrest for the very same charge of corruption.
Balaji was being questioned at his residence by ED in connection with a cash-for-job scam when he was transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime. At 2. 30 am, Balaji developed chest pain after being informed that he had been arrested. Visuals of the minister crying out in pain, holding his chest with a hand and covering his face with the other inside a car began to trend on social media as the day broke.
Doctors at the hospital performed a coronary angiogram on Balaji and the results revealed triple vessel disease. A medical bulletin said Balaji has been “advised to undergo a coronary artery bypass graft (bypass surgery) at the earliest”.
ED officials then approached the principal sessions court to get Balaji remanded. Chennai principal district judge S Alli visited the hospital to inquire about his health. The judge then remanded the minister in judicial custody till June 28 but allowed him to remain in the hospital for treatment until further orders.
Stalin warns BJP
Meanwhile, Stalin warned the BJP not to “provoke” the DMK, saying it will not be able to “bear the consequences” and that his party also knows “all types of politics”, escalating his attack on the saffron party after the arrest of Balaji. Stalin also alleged that the BJP leadership wants to do its “politics through the ED.”