Jayakumar defends Governor's move to dismiss Senthilbalaji from cabinet
He has no moral ground to remain as minister, besides it would derail the investigation of the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case.
RN Ravi; D Jayakumar
CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK leader and former minister D Jayakumar reiterated that the AIADMK party's stand is against V Senthilbalaji continuation as member of the state cabinet.
He has no moral ground to remain as minister, besides it would derail the investigation of the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case.
"Senthilbalaji is under the custody and he has been given a prisoner inmate number. After all this, why is he still continuing in the cabinet? Why is the Chief Minister and his government protecting him at this level?" Jayakumar asked while talking to the media persons over Governor R N Ravi's statement dismissing Senthilbalaji.
He recalled that former chief minister J Jayalalithaa dropped Agri S S Krishnamoorthy from the cabinet, while the DMK regime under M Karunanidhi had also removed N K K P Raja from the cabinet following controversies and cases.
"Why is the present government taking such a measure?" he asked
Jayakumar defended the Governor's action to dismiss Senthilbalaji from cabinet, but skirted away from responding to the question why the Governor backtracked his decision within a couple of hours and asked the TN government to put his communication on abeyance.
"We are not keen to go into the legal point of views and interpretation of the constitutional provisions. But our party's stand is clear that Senthilbalaji should be dropped from the cabinet to ensure a fair probe into the cash-for-job scam and money laundering case. Our party has also staged a state-wide protest regarding the issue and also petitioned the Governor to take appropriate action against the tainted minister, " he said while responding to a question whether the Governor has the authority to remove a minister from the cabinet.
The legal validity of the Governor's role and authority is subjected to legal scrutiny and it would be explored in the court of law, he continued and added that his son and former MP J Jayavardhan approached the Madras High Court and filed a petition challenging Senthilbalaji's continuation as minister.
