V Senthil Balaji
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A brief biography
As in 2023 June
Mayilvaganan, June 16, 2023: The Times of India
People say many things about V Senthil Balaji. That he is corrupt, a taskmaster, crafty enough to be in the good books of everyone in chief minister MK Stalin’s family, that he has deep enough pockets to fund elections and that he is a party-hopper. Most of these descriptions fit him, but one that nobody can deny is that he is a formidable foe for his rivals.
Born in an agrarian family in Karur’s Rameswarapatti village in 1975, V Senthil Kumar, a religious man, changed his name to Senthil Balaji. He was drawn to politics when he was barely 20 years old.
As a college student, he joined the then fledgling Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in 1995, only to switch to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) the very next year to contest in the local body polls and become a panchayat union ward councillor when he was just 21 years old. That he was able to see the political tide turning in favour of the DMK in 1996, despite being a greenhorn, is a trait that he nurtures to date.
The rise
After a four-year stint there, he joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), perhaps sensing a resurgence of the J Jayalalithaa-led party, exactly a year before she stormed to power. The young and active Balaji got into the good books of Jayalalithaa very soon.
Within six months, he was made the Karur district student’s wing joint secretary and in 2004 the secretary. She also fielded him in the 2006 assembly elections and the 31-year-old became a member of legislative assembly (MLA) for the first time.
“He managed to attract Jayalalithaa’s attention by taking on KC Palaniswamy and Vasuki Murugesan, the DMK veterans in Karur,” says a former AIADMK MLA from a central district. Thus, he became Karur district secretary and was fielded by Jayalalithaa again in 2011.
This time, Balaji was made transport minister, his maiden cabinet berth, which has plunged him into the abyss that he is in now. It was during this term that complaints started pouring in that Balaji had collected money from job aspirants for postings in the transport department. Jayalalithaa sacked him from the cabinet and stripped him of his party posts in 2015.
“But within a year, he convinced Jayalalithaa and got the ticket to contest in the 2016 election,’’ says the former MLA. It was during the campaign for election that Stalin made a scathing attack on Balaji and demanded a probe into the cash-for-jobs scam.
Back then, Stalin never knew that seven years later, he would be defending Balaji when investigation agencies come calling.
Nevertheless, Balaji won in 2016. This time though, he was not given a ministerial berth.
After Jayalalithaa died in 2016, when TTV Dhinakaran floated the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) in 2018, Balaji was among the 18 MLAs who backed him and got disqualified later that year. Balaji was with AMMK for a few more months after disqualification but soon realised his future would be brighter in the DMK. Stalin too needed someone strong in Karur, where the party’s fortunes were dwindling.
Importance of Balaji
Soon after he joined the DMK, he won the Aravakurichi bypoll on a DMK ticket in 2019 and in 2021 won in the Karur assembly segment. Stalin gifted him two plum portfolios — electricity and excise. He was also made in charge of Coimbatore district in the run-up to the local body election.
DMK didn’t know back then that Balaji would not only help lift the sagging fortunes of the party in Karur but would also reverse the fall of the DMK in the Kongu belt. Balaji’s Gounder identity, a community that is believed to back the AIADMK, helped the DMK make inroads into the opponent’s vote bank.
DMK men in Coimbatore recall the daunting task in front of Balaji in the 2021 urban local body polls. He had to take on AIADMK strongman SP Velumani as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had a sizeable following in Coimbatore.
Balaji, who camped in Coimbatore for weeks, brought his men from Karur and deputed them across the city. Though this did not go down well with local DMK men, the ‘Karur group’ micromanaged the election.
Ultimately, the DMK alliance won 97 of the 100 wards in Coimbatore, something the party had never achieved. Those in the DMK say this was not a mean achievement as the party had lost all 10 assembly segments to the AIADMK front barely a few months earlier.
“That is why the BJP fears him. The BJP knows they cannot win the 2024 elections in Coimbatore or other western districts if Balaji is on the field,” says DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi.
After the local body win, Balaji’s importance in the party grew more than ever. He played a key role in the DMK’s victory in the Erode bypoll earlier this year too. In fact, he was charged with being the architect of the patti model where the public was kept in shelters at designated places every day to prevent them from attending election rallies of rival parties.
Balaji was one of the DMK netas who was vigorously attacked by BJP state president K Annamalai, who referred to him as a "corrupt minister". The rivalry was attributed to Annamalai’s defeat in the Aravakurichi constituency in 2021, due to Balaji.
As his stature grew, so did the complaints against him. He was accused of allowing illegal bars near state-run Tasmac outlets which came under the excise and prohibition ministry. Liquor bottles were sold for prices more than the maximum retail price in Tasmac outlets, a charge he denied. He had the solid backing of Stalin as well as his son and sports minister Udhayanidhi, for they know that Balaji’s skillset was needed for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Balaji was neither an eloquent orator nor was identified as a Dravidian ideologue. But the 47-year-old has more than made up for it through his organisational skills, connect with people and display of loyalty to the party leadership for as long as it suited him – whether it was the DMK, AIADMK or AMMK.
That turned out to be the perfect way for him to climb the political ladder fast. Those in the DMK say that the present fall will not last long and Balaji will be back in the running soon.
Timeline of the scam
2011-15: Senthil Balaji becomes transport minister in AIADMK govt
2014-15: Balaji along with others in transport department allegedly took bribes from job aspirants
2015: A man named Devasagayam files police complaint saying son did not get job even after he paid a bribe of ₹2.6 lakh
2017-18: Two more job-related complaints filed
2021: Enforcement Directorate registers case
2022: ED summons Balaji, other accused; they skip summons
2022: Madras high court restrains ED from proceeding with investigation against Balaji in the cash-for-job scam
2023: Supreme Court lifts stay imposed by HC, allows ED to begin fresh probe
2023: ED searches Balaji’s homes; he is arrested
