Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s DMK government will fight the dismissal of Minister Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers by Governor R.N. Ravi legally, government sources said.

Sources in the government told IANS that they will be moving the Supreme Court against the dismissal.

The Governor had, in an unprecedented move, removed Balaji, who was a Minister without Portfolio, from the council of ministers.

A communique from Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening said that the arrested minister is likely to influence the probe and that he was dismissed with immediate effect.

Balaji, who was Electricity and Excise and Prohibition Minister, was arrested earlier this month by the Enforcement Directorate in a case related to job for cash scam and he was sent to judicial custody. He was subsequently divested of his portfolios but stayed a minister in the M.K. Stalin government.

The minister complained of chest pain and doctors, after examination, recommended an angiogram which revealed that he has three blocks in his coronary artery and a bypass surgery was recommended. He later underwent the bypass surgery at a private hospital in Chennai even as the ED objected to it.  (IANS)