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New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday criticized the Tamil Nadu government over the arrest of Tamil Nadu leader SG Surya, alleging that Chief Minister MK Stalin has avenged the arrest of his Power Minister V Senthil Balaji by the Enforcement Directorate. Money laundering case. Surya was arrested by the police in Chennai late Friday night under sections of the IPC and the IT Act. Police sources said the action was based on a complaint by the CPI(M) against a social media post by the state secretary of the BJP.
Reacting to the arrest, BJP national spokesperson Tom Vadakan told a press conference at the party headquarters here, “I call it a vendetta arrest. The chief minister in a statement after Balaji’s arrest said he would avenge it.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Balaji under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the state’s transport department when he was the transport minister in the AIADMK government during 2011-15. He later joined the DMK led by Stalin.
Also read: BJP targets ‘platform speaker’ on Tamil Nadu CM Stalin’s warning
Vadakan said action has been taken against Suriya for his tweet about the death of a sanitation worker in Tamil Nadu, while Balaji was arrested “for his involvement in a cash-for-job scam”.
On the minister’s arrest, a BJP spokesperson said, “This is not a case that we had brought up. It was a case in which Chief Minister Stalin wanted Balaji to be arrested on corruption charges when he was in the opposition.”
He alleged that Surya’s arrest sent a message that “if you raise any issue, Stalin will strike.” Vadakan alleged that Tamil Nadu police arrested Surya in retaliation for his tweet because Stalin is “worried that Senthil will expose him”.
Also read: What is Tamil Nadu’s Cash for Job case? Who is Senthil Balaji?
The BJP spokesperson claimed, ‘Today when Senthil is a minister in the DMK government, he has links with the Chief Minister and a lot is going to be exposed.’
“That’s why he (Stalin) came to the hospital to meet the minister (Senthil)…he is afraid that Senthil will expose him,” he alleged.
The BJP spokesperson said, “And he should be worried because his lapses and the work of the commission that he has done jointly will take him to where he deserves to be,” a message to the Tamil Nadu chief minister that He should focus on governance”.
