Chief Minister M.K. Stalin should drop V. Senthilbalaji from the Cabinet, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Sunday.
Keeping a person, arrested on corruption charges, in the Cabinet is not correct. When M. Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister, he dropped Aladi Aruna and N.K.K.P. Raja from the Cabinet when charges were made against them. Likewise, when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister, she dropped S.S. Krishnamoorthy from the Cabinet after a complaint came up against him. Mr. Senthilbalaji was in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The AIADMK saw this as setting a bad example, he told reporters here.
Asked about Mr. Stalin’s allegations that the AIADMK was a slave of the BJP, Mr. Palaniswami, who took part at a function at Attur in which workers of other parties joined the AIADMK, said the AIADMK ruled the State for 31 years. In the 2021 Assembly election, the party-led alliance won 75 seats. “We are bringing the problems of people to the government’s attention. We are not the slaves of anyone. In 1999, the DMK entered into an alliance with the BJP and was part of the BJP-led government at the Centre. An alliance is an agreement for an election. Every party has its own principles, and we [the AIADMK] have our own,” he said.
