With no end to legal battles, jailed Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji resigns

The office of Chief Minister Stalin confirmed the submission of Balaji’s resignation and that it was sent to the Governor for approval.

His resignation has come just days before the Madras High Court is slated to review his bail plea. Balaji’s arrest was linked to a purported cash-for-jobs scam that occurred during his tenure as the transport minister, from 2011 to 2015, in the Cabinet led by the late Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Before his arrest, the DMK leader held significant positions, managing electricity, excise and prohibition portfolios. Despite Balaji’s legal troubles, CM Stalin chose to keep him in the state Cabinet without specific responsibilities and allocated his duties to other senior ministers. This move, however, did not quell the controversy surrounding his continued Cabinet membership while being imprisoned.

The case against Balaji involves allegations of corruption and illegal money transactions in the recruitment process within the Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

Recently, Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras HC, while addressing Balaji’s prolonged detention and his status in the Cabinet, expressed concerns over the message this situation conveyed about the state’s governance and legal standards. The judge highlighted the anomaly of a minister retaining his Cabinet position despite being jailed for over 230 days on serious charges, pointing out that even lower-grade employees of the state would have been suspended under similar circumstances.

Sources close to Balaji said the decision to resign was made independently, not at the demand of the DMK leadership. “In the initial days following his arrest, he was deeply upset due to health problems, including undergoing open-heart surgery. However, he is now in a stable condition, except for health issues and medicines. His bail pleas were repeatedly rejected for two main reasons: his position in the Cabinet and his brother, who has been evading the ED for several months. The issue of his Cabinet position has become prominent, especially with the High Court also criticising it. Therefore, the decision to resign was made by him on his own,” the source said.