CM celebrates accused Senthilbalaji as martyr, criminals and drug mafia emboldened, slams EPs
The present dispensation has turned a blind eye towards drug peddling in the state, EPS said. The State has been turned into a hub for illegal activities, the AIADMK general secretary alleged.
CHENNAI: Hitting out at Chief Minister M K Stalin's social media post welcoming former Minister V Senthil Balaji, who was out on bail in a cash-for-jobs ED case, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami slammed the CM for giving a hero’s welcome to a person who was accused in a scam.
The present dispensation has turned a blind eye towards drug peddling in the state, EPS said. The State has been turned into a hub for illegal activities, the AIADMK general secretary alleged.
"When the CM himself praises his party functionary walking out on bail in a criminal case, portraying him a martyr, it is not astonishing to see anti-social elements roaming freely with fresh vigour in the state," said Palaniswami in a statement. The former Chief Minister was alluding to the rousing welcome given to the former minister Senthil Balaji, who was part of AIADMK in the past, when he stepped out of the Puzhal Central Prison on Thursday.
Pointing out to the seizure of Rs 110 crore worth of ephedrine, abused as a party drug which is used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, from Chennai Port, Palaniswami sought a thorough probe into the seizure of a huge quantity of the drug.
Citing social media reports, Palaniswami claimed that those two arrested in the case were partners of jailed A Jaffer Saddiq, a former functionary of the DMK party. In the last 40 months of the DMK regime, the links between anti-social elements and the functionaries of the ruling party are wrecking the state, the AIADMK leader said.
"Who is responsible for turning the state into a hub for narcotics? Who are the key players? Despite knowing who is behind this, why is the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence not arresting them? Why does it restrict itself from arresting couriers or small players in an organised crime," Palaniswami wondered.
Keeping the future of the youngsters in mind, the CM should act and set the police department free to crack the whip against the drug mafia and free the state from the menace, EPS said. The law enforcing agencies of both the state and centre should act cohesively against the network of the drug mafia, he added.