A hunt for former Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji in connection with two job-related cheating cases is proving to be a challenge for the Tamil Nadu police. Over a fortnight after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the AIADMK leader’s anticipatory bail applications, six special police teams have failed to trace him. Among the complaints registered against him by the Virudhunagar District Crime Branch is cheating government job aspirants after collecting ₹1.6 crore.
There are not many in the AIADMK to shed tears for Mr. Bhalaji, though publicly the party has called the police action an act of political vendetta by the DMK government. For, the rustic politician is controversy’s second child. He had not only alienated local party functionaries with his aggression but caused much embarrassment to the leadership by taking a pronounced pro-Hindu and pro-BJP stand as Minister. In the run up to the 2019 parliamentary polls, he declared, “[Prime Minister] Modi is our [AIADMK] daddy, India’s daddy!” This did not sit well with the cadres who had witnessed former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa lead the party to a historic electoral success in 2014 with an epic remark: “Who is a better administrator — Gujarat’s Modi or this Tamil Nadu lady?”
Caught on audio once threatening to eliminate an opponent and later justifying it, and on video manhandling a party man, Mr. Bhalaji has never been known for public niceties. He called for cutting off actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s tongue when the latter described Nathuram Godse as “free India’s first Hindu extremist”. As Minister, he went on record saying if the support for “Islamic terrorism” continued, “nobody can stop Hindu terrorism”. Mr. Bhalaji had also embarrassed then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami by insisting that the murder of a BJP functionary in Tamil Nadu had a “religious angle” despite the police ruling out such motives. During the ‘Janata curfew’, he tweeted: “The happening in the country are a lesson to bogus crusaders who made fun of Hindu religious practices and beliefs...” Following an uproar, he deleted it.
Against this backdrop, there is scepticism over the failure of the police to arrest him with critics questioning if the politician managed to remain untraced due to his proximity to the BJP. However, Mr. Bhalaji’s sister and lawyer have knocked the doors of the High Court alleging harassment by the police. Among the few AIADMK ex-ministers to lose in the 2021 Assembly election, Mr. Bhalaji is also facing a revived probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
It is inevitable that the AIADMK would back Mr. Bhalaji as the M.K. Stalin government has turned the heat on several former ministers. Five former ministers, including two known to be trusted lieutenants of Mr. Palaniswami, have been booked by the DVAC. More are likely to be targeted. Former Social Welfare Minister V. Saroja is facing a case of cheating job aspirants. One of Mr. Palaniswami’s personal assistants, Mani, has also been arrested on charges of cheating people.
Therefore, the party leadership could ill-afford to let Mr. Bhalaji fend for himself. An AIADMK delegation recently met Governor R.N. Ravi alleging that the police was harassing its functionaries. The party has sought to turn the tables on the DMK questioning if the government would arrest Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji, a political turncoat, who as Transport Minister in the Jayalalithaa government, faced a similar case of cheating job aspirants.
Irrespective of the political game, the Tamil Nadu police, which prides itself as being on a par with the Scotland Yard police, has its task cut out in arresting Mr. Bhalaji.
sureshkumar.d@thehindu.co.in
