CHENNAI: Minister for Energy Resources and Law C T R Nirmal Kumar on Thursday claimed that BJP and DMK have reached a political understanding, pointing out that Governor R V Arlekar has not yet approved the prosecution request of former DMK minister Senthil Balaji.
Responding to a question on the perceived cordial relationship between the state government and centre, Nirmal Kumar alleged that it was the DMK that maintained a covert association with the BJP and governor.
“The file seeking sanction to prosecute Senthil Balaji and others has been lying pending in the governor’s office for one week. The DMK, BJP and the governor are on the same page.
The DMK has become the face of the BJP, and it is the BJP that controls the DMK. For whose benefit has the governor not signed the prosecution sanction request,” he asked.
The minister was referring to the state government’s request seeking permission to allow the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former DMK minister V Senthil Balaji in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2016, when he served as transport minister during the AIADMK regime.
He further stated that the transport and power sectors had reported profits several years ago, but were now running at a loss. “A white paper on the functioning of the power sector will be released soon,” he added.
Commenting on the newly-constituted Singapen Special Task Force, Kumar said the force had been created with adequate powers to enable its personnel to act against offenders. “It will be expanded further in the future,” he said.
Replying to a question on power outages, the minister said that power disruptions were reported in 52 locations on the previous day, of which 37 were rectified within an hour. “On the day before that, outages were reported in 35 locations. Considering TN has nearly 4.5 lakh transformers, disruptions have been minimal, and details of power cuts are being published online,” he said.