"Kingpin": Annamalai attacks Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji amid uproar over alleged TASMAC scam

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 14 (ANI): Amid uproar over the alleged TASMAC scam, Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai on Friday launched a scathing attack against state minister V Senthil Balaji, labelling him as the "kingpin" who remains involved in "every single scam."
Standing firm on his sources, Annamalai claimed that the TASMAC scam was over a thousand crore rupees while questioning the moral right of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Balaji to continue in his post as the minister.
"I have my sources. I believe (the corruption) is over a thousand crore (rupees). Senthil Balaji is involved in every single scam. He is the kingpin. Supreme Court has questioned if he has the moral right to stay a Minister," Annamalai told reporters.
Labelling Balaji as the "liquor minister", the BJP leader said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin restored Balaji as the minister as soon as he was released from jail. The TASMAC scam is bigger than the Delhi liquor scam, Annamalai asserted.
"The Chief Minister kept Senthil Balaji's post warm and gave it back to him as soon as he came out of jail. He is in no position to talk about political probity. I call Senthil Balaji, the liquor minister. This scam (TASMAC) is bigger than Chhattisgarh and Delhi (liquor scams)," he added.
His reaction comes following raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) and liquor-supplying companies in the state, after which Balaji denied the charges and stated that the state government would face this legally.
"ED have alleged Rs 1000 crores corruption without any basis. Before ED, one person made an accusation Rs 1,000 crore scam, then ED also says the same in their statement. People are aware that there are thousands of meanings behind this. Government will face the ED searches on TASMAC legally," the minister said.
"Everything is transparent as far as TASMAC is concerned. As far as purchase is concerned, it would be done by calculating the average of the last three months of purchase brand. By taking the average of the last three years and the last month's purchase, TASMAC will give a purchase order to them. So, we have not shown any discount to anyone on giving purchase orders. Everything is transparent. There is no room for any malpractices in TASMAC and the government will face ED searches legally," he added.
The minister claimed that there had been no policy changes in TASMAC functioning.
"People have faith in MK Stalin. TASMAC is being administered by the Tamil Nadu government. It is not a private enterprise. Have we taken any new policy decision on TASMAC? It is functioning with the same old policy," Balaji said.
The BJP on Friday accused Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin of spreading baseless rumours about the three-language policy and other issues to divert attention from ongoing ED raids on TASMAC and liquor-supplying companies in Tamil Nadu.
Annamalai said, "The ED has uncovered documents from the distilleries linked to the generation of unaccounted cash of Rs1000 Crores, which were paid as kickbacks. DMK has been fleecing common people to fill their party's coffers by rigging the system, and TN CM is duty-bound to answer the people who received these kickbacks. He should also ask himself if he has the moral right to continue as the CM of TN."
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs walked out of the State assembly on Friday during the budget presentation over the alleged Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) scam.
After the walkout, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami addressed the media, alleging that a corruption of over Rs 40,000 crores is possible in TASMAC.
He claimed that the government did not take any action even after a raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He also demanded that the MK Stalin-led DMK government should resign.
"ED has said that there has been corruption of more than Rs 1,000 crore in TASMAC. The investigation is ongoing. It is possible that there has been over Rs 40,000 crore of corruption in TASMAC. The government did not take any action even after the ED raid. We demand that the DMK government should resign over this," he said.
ED, Chennai, conducted search operations at various premises across many districts of Tamil Nadu under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, for various offences related to TASMAC and its associated entities/persons, said an official statement from the Central agency.
In a post on X, ED said, "ED, Chennai has conducted search operations at various premises across many districts of Tamil Nadu on 06.03.2025 under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, for various offences related to Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) and its associated entities/persons. During the search operations, various incriminating documents were recovered and seized." (ANI)