A united Opposition on Wednesday rallied around the DMK after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Tamil Nadu minister V. Senthil Balaji in a 2015 cash-for-jobs case after nearly 24 hours of questioning.

While the BJP sought to remind the DMK that chief minister M.K. Stalin himself had spoken about Balaji’s involvement in the cash-for-jobs case a few years ago when Balaji was a minister in the AIADMK government, the Opposition chorus was that this was yet another instance of the ED serving as the handmaiden of the Modi government.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the arrest of the Tamil Nadu electricity minister. “This is nothing but political harassment and vendetta by the Modi government against those opposed to it. None of us in the Opposition will be intimidated by such brazen moves,” Kharge said in a statement.

The CPM’s Tamil Nadu unit, which along with the Congress is an ally of the DMK in the state, also denounced the arrest. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury had tweeted during the raid at Fort St. George, where the Tamil Nadu secretariat is located: “The Modi government has weaponised the ED, targeting Opposition leaders.”

Sanjay Raut of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena wanted to know when the ED and the CBI would start acting on the complaints against BJP leaders.

“I have sent complaints against three ministers of Maharashtra to the ED over money laundering. I have not even received a reply from them. Why are there no raids against them?” Raut asked. “Whoever is opposing them will be raided — be it Nawab Malik, Manish Sisodia or Satyendra Jain.”

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, himself in the midst of an effort to rally Opposition parties to oppose the Delhi ordinance that has nullified the Supreme Court judgment giving the elected government control of the services, sought to cement the support of the DMK by asserting that the CBI and the ED had become political weapons of the BJP.

The Aam Aadmi Party issued a detailed statement condemning the manner in which the minister was arrested in the dead of the night.

NCP working president Supriya Sule said she was not surprised by the development — given that 95 per cent of cases filed by investigating agencies on the Modi government’s watch are reported to be against Opposition leaders.

Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said he could be next. The JDU saw the developments in Tamil Nadu as a “desperate reaction” of the Modi government in view of the Opposition parties’ meeting convened by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23.