NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JUNE 20
DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji will undergo an open-heart surgery at a private hospital here on June 21, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday, a week after the beleaguered DMK leader was advised a bypass surgery. The surgery will be performed early on Wednesday, Subramanian told reporters here.
- Balaj was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam last week
- SC agrees to hear plea against HC order allowing shifting Senthil Balaji to private hospital tomorrow
“Since the surgery has to be mandatorily performed on Senthil Balaji, it will be done tomorrow,” he said.
“We are in touch with hospital administration…they are going to do open-heart surgery early morning tomorrow,” Subramanian added.
Balaj was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam last week. He was initially admitted to a government hospital after he complained of chest pain but was shifted to the private facility following a court order.
The government hospital had on June 14 said Mr Balaji had then undergone Coronary Angiogram which had revealed “triple vessel disease” and advised Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery at the ‘earliest.’ On Tuesday, Mr Subramanian said his colleague was not aware of the “critical blocks” before they were diagnosed last week by the government doctors.
His family doctor as well medical experts from the ESI Hospital, referred to by the ED, endorsed it and said the surgery was required, he added.
“Now the doctors (at Kauvery Hospital) are ready for the surgery,” he said.
Earlier, certain medicines that Mr Balaji was prescribed had to be stopped and only “5-6 days” from then could the surgery be done, the health minister said.
SC agrees to hear plea against HC order allowing shifting Senthil Balaji to private hospital
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Wednesday, June 21 a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate against an order of the Madras High Court allowing the shifting of arrested Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who is under medical treatment at a city government hospital, to a private facility.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice M M Sundresh seeking urgent hearing.
Mehta told the bench that Balaji is an influential minister and the high court has allowed his transfer to a private hospital.
The HC on June 15 allowed the shifting of the minister, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and since under medical treatment at a city government hospital, to a private facility.
The high court, which was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji’•s wife, gave the interim order.
It also issued notice to the ED on the main plea of ‘illegal’ arrest of Balaji and posted the matter to June 22.
The high court had said Balaji would continue to remain in judicial custody and allowed the probe agency to have its own team of doctors to examine the minister.
Rajnath Singh slams CM Stalin’s ‘duplicity’ over Senthil Balaji arrest
Addressing a public meeting in Chennai.
https://t.co/F2RsPhAWXa— Rajnath Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@rajnathsingh) June 20, 2023
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday lashed out at DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin for his “duplicity of character” over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrest of his cabinet colleague V Senthil Balaji and dubbed as unconstitutional, the recent arrest of a state BJP functionary by the police.
Amid some strains in ties between his BJP and ally AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Singh said the saffron party values its partners and that the NDA led by it “is not a compulsion but a commitment.”
Addressing a public meeting at suburban Tambaram to commemorate the nine years of the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he trained his guns against his “friend” Stalin over the arrest of Balaji, picked up by the ED in a cash-for-jobs scam, saying the CM questioned the action of the central agency.
