With the Madras High Court rejecting the bail plea of DMK Minister (with No Charge) V Senthil Balaji in the cash-for-jobs money laundering case earlier this week, the Karur strongman, who has been going through a difficult time for the past several months, has suffered yet another setback.
Dismissing the plea, the court observed that the health report of the petitioner did not indicate a medical condition which could be taken care of only if he was released on bail. “That apart, his past conduct, his present position as Minister without Portfolio and abscondence of his brother Mr. Ashok Kumar, coupled with attack on Income Tax officials, all cumulatively leads to an irresistible conclusion that, certainly, he will directly or indirectly influence or cause deterrence to witnesses, if released on bail.” In a way, the court’s observation sums up the good, bad, and ugly of Senthil Balaji’s political life which began in the nondescript village of Rameswarapatti in Karur district and is presently locked up in prison.
In contemporary TN politics, few have had as many highs and lows in their political career as V Senthil Balaji. Just about 48, he has already has been in active politics for almost three decades beginning his career way back in 1995 by joining Vaiko’s MDMK, soon after the party was formed in 1994. Within a year, Balaji left the MDMK for the DMK to contest in the subsequent local body polls with a party ticket and became a ward councillor. Those close to him claim that this stint as a young councillor in his native belt had earned him enough admirers who remain loyal to him to date irrespective of Balaji’s changing political affiliations.
By 2000, Senthil Balaji found the DMK too stifling for his political ambitions and switched loyalty to the AIADMK, which looked all set to capture power.
By 2000, Senthil Balaji found the DMK too stifling for his political ambitions and switched loyalty to the AIADMK, which looked all set to capture power from the DMK that was already marred by several allegations. After the AIADMK came to power in 2006, Balaji’s clout within party circles grew significantly and he became the AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa’s top loyalist in Karur district. Within a few years of joining the party, SB had impressed Jayalalithaa to such an extent that she appointed him party’s Karur district secretary. He was also selected as the AIADMK’s Karur candidate for 2006 assembly polls. It was SB first foray into mainstream electoral politics and he was just 31 at the time.
Even as the DMK alliance swept the polls and returned to power winning 163 of the 232 seats, SB defeated his nearest rival Vasuki Murugesan from the DMK with a comfortable margin of over 5000 votes, thus proving that his fortunes in the Karur belt did not depend on the party’s general appeal among voters in TN. SB’s rise within the AIADMK was evident when he repeated his success again in 2011 defeating Jothi Mani of the Congress by over 40,000 votes and become the transport minister in Jayalalithaa’s cabinet. During his tenure as Transport Minister, SB was known to be among the four or five ministers who had direct access to Jayalalithaa and held considerable clout even among bureaucrats and journalists. Soon, he came to be known as the go-to man for reaching out to the party leadership and their faith in him was such that when Jaya was jailed in 2014, SB’s name was among those rumoured to be picked as her successor while she spent time in prison. However, O Panneerselvam was chosen as the stand-in CM instead.
Soon, he came to be known as the go-to man for reaching out to the party leadership whose faith in him was such that when Jayalalithaa was jailed in 2014, SB’s name was among those rumoured to be picked as her successor while she spent time in prison. However, O Panneerselvam was chosen as the stand-in CM instead.
Even when Jayalalithaa was in prison, SB remained in the limelight conducting several poojas and other rituals in temples for the release of his leader and ensured they received adequate media coverage. By now, he was also known to bypass OPS and other senior party leaders allegedly striking deals and conducting private businesses to the annoyance of many in the party. The charges against SB grew to such an extent that when Jayalalithaa became CM again in 2015 after she was released from prison, he was the first minister to be sacked. SB was also relieved from the post of Karur district secretary.
However, those accusations did little to tarnish the former minister’s reputation among his voters or the party leadership as he managed to bag a ticket to contest from Aravakurichi in the 2016 assembly elections and achieved a resounding victory crushing DMK’s candidate KC Palanisamy by over 22,000 votes. Nevertheless, Jayalalithaa denied him a berth in the cabinet following the party’s win in successive assembly elections.
Following Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016 when the AIADMK was in disarray, Balaji shifted to the AMMK formed by TTV Dhinakaran in 2018 and was among the 18 MLAs who were disqualified later that year. But that stay was short-lived too. Noticing the continuing chaos in the different AIADMK camps, SB decided to move back to the DMK, which was also desperately looking for a strong leader the western TN where the party’s clout had been dwindling consistently since the death of Salem strongman Veerapandi S. Arumugam.
Stalin welcomed Balaji into the party with open arms and also rewarded him with the Karur district secretary post soon after. In return, Senthil Balaji won the Aravakurichi bypoll in 2019 by a margin of over 40,000 votes. In the 2021 assembly elections, Balaji repeated the success and was re-elected as legislator from Karur. Stalin rewarded him with a ministerial berth and handed over the key Electricity portfolio, held by top party stalwarts like Arcot Veerasamy during the previous DMK governments.
As one of the key ministers in Stalin’s government, Senthil Balaji soon grew in popularity not just among party cadre but government officials as well, who often looked upon his as one of the few ministers they could get in touch any time.
As one of the key ministers in Stalin’s government, Senthil Balaji soon grew in popularity not just among party cadre but government officials as well, who often looked upon his as one of the few ministers they could get in touch any time. As had been the case during his early days in the AIADMK, Senthil Balaji’s growing clout in the DMK government was such that he was the one-point-contact for anything to do with western TN. At the same time, there were several in the electricity board who were also unhappy with the minister’s way of handling contracts, tenders etc. Senior DMK men also rejected SB as they saw him as an opportunist politician and not one driven by ideology like them.
Earlier this year, when the Supreme Court had overruled the Madras High Court’s order dismissing proceedingsagainst Senthil Balaji in an alleged job racket in the transport department between 2011 and 2015 when he was transport minister in the AIADMK government, many saw it as yet another ploy by the BJP to choke vulnerable TN ministers. However, the SC directive to reinitiate a probe into the case was followed by Income Tax raids in June this year, which was followed by ED raids a few weeks later. The ED also arrested Senthil Balaji under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Chief Minister Stalin and several other DMK leaders stood by him and voiced their support blaming the BJP government for his arrest. Interrogations were on when the minister suffered a heart attack, according to a medical bulletin, and had to undergo an emergency surgical procedure.
Since his discharge, Balaji has been in jail and visibly in distress as photographs appearing in media have revealed. Yet, the minister with no charge has been denied a bail and one of the reasons cited by the court for refusing bail, was that he was a minister with no charge. Balaji’s lawyers are now approaching the SC citing his health condition but the voices of support appear to have gone silent in the DMK. His former colleagues in the AIADMK also have no reason to express solidarity even though the alleged offence took place when he was an AIADMK minister.
With the only state politician who continues to talk of Senthil Balaji being BJP’s K Annamalai, there appears to be no respite, at least for now, from the streak of bad luck that has been haunting him. But 48 is hardly the age to give up. This rough patch might, perhaps, be a good time for him to introspect on why he chose to be a politician at a time when most youngsters are clueless about a career and return to the basics — working for the betterment of the people who have consistently voted for him with honesty and dedication.