Not political vendetta, it is a legal case: Annamalai on Senthil Balaji arrest

Chennai, June 14 (IANS) Tamil Nadu BJP state president K. Annamalai on Wednesday said that there is no political vendetta against DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister for electricity and prohibition, Senthil Balaji but he has been detained for a legal case.

Talking to reporters at Tamil Nadu BJP state headquarters Kamalalayam, Annamalai said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided the premises of Senthil Balaji on Supreme Court directives.

He said that the ED has raided and detained him for further inquiries regarding the cash for jobs scam.

He said that BJP does not need to take political vendetta against anyone and said that BJP did not have such a style of functioning.

Annamalai told media persons that when the present Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin was leader of the Opposition in 2016, he had targeted Senthil Balaji who was then in the AIADMK. The BJP leader said that Stalin himself had then called for a fair probe into the allegations against Senthil Balaji.

The BJP state president called upon the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to cooperate with the ED investigation and not to tarnish the image of the state by making contradictory statements.

He said that the whole investigation by the ED was carried out under the supervision of the Supreme Court and added that the allegations of the opposition have been thoroughly politicized.

DMK and its allies have charged BJP of using central agencies like ED and Income Tax to arm-twist opposition leaders.

The DMK is on backfoot after the powerful Electricity and Prohibition minister of Tamil Nadu, Senthil Balaji was arrested during the early hours of Wednesday.

The minister was arrested after a marathon questioning of 18 hours at his official residence.