Chennai: A day after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthilbalaji in an alleged money laundering case, Governor R N Ravi on Thursday rejected Chief Minister M K Stalin’s recommendation to reallocate his portfolios to two other ministers.
Confirming this Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy late in the night told journalists, the Chief Minister had written to the Governor that since Senthilbalaji was hospitalized (for coronary blocks) his Electricity portfolio be allotted to Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and the Excise and Prohibition subjects be given to senior Minister S Muthusamy.
“The Governor had rejected the recommendation saying it was ‘misleading’ and ‘incorrect’,” Ponmudy said, adding, “Everyone knows it is a fact that Senthilbalaji is in hospital.”
He added that the Chief Minister, immediately on receipt of the Governor’s letter, convened a meeting with officials and wrote to Ravi again reiterating his recommendation saying this was as per the Business rules.
The Chief Minister had not dropped Senthilbalaji from the Cabinet and instead retained him as Minister without portfolio. Meanwhile, following a direction from the Madras High Court, Senthilbalaji was shifted to a private hospital on Thursday in an ambulance for treatment