The AIADMK on Thursday demanded that V. Senthilbalaji be sacked from the Tamil Nadu Cabinet. A letter, written by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, was handed over to Governor R.N. Ravi. A delegation of the party leaders, including C.Ve. Shanmugam and D. Jayakumar, met the Governor and presented the letter to him.
Mr. Shanmugam told journalists later that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin should have removed Mr. Senthilbalaji from the Cabinet on moral grounds.
He said there were many precedents wherein Ministers facing corruption charges or criminal proceedings were dropped during the governments of both the DMK and the AIADMK. He recalled that Handlooms Minister N.K.K.P. Raja was dropped from the Cabinet in August 2008, following allegations of his involvement in a case of land grab, and Agriculture Minister ‘Agri’ S.S. Krishnamoorthy was dropped from the Ministry in March 2015, following a controversy over the suicide of an engineer in Tirunelveli.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).